The red-eyed monster
by Lesliec
Summary: A series of murders against young and innocent's women put in check the police and the society. Without clues or any links to lead the police to the whereabouts of this cruel monster, can Hinata Hyuga be saved in time before her name join the list of the victims of the so call red-eyed demon?
1. Chapter I

**The red-eyed monster**

 _A series of murders against young and innocent's women put in check the police and the society. Without clues or any links to lead the police to the whereabouts of this cruel monster, can Hinata Hyuga be saved in time before her name join the list of the victims of the so call red-eyed demon?_

 **Disclaimer:** Naruto and its characters don't belong to me, but Masashi Kishimoto.

Sorry for my english, it's the first time I write in english. I beg your pardon for my grammar errors.

 **This chapter has already revised by my beta-reader ZEKI FOR LIFE.**

* * *

 **Chapter I**

For any college student, a weekend always meant party. Whether going to night club, having a drink with friends, seeing a concert or just be outside for the pleasure of being outside were required activities for anyone who would proudly carry the title of college student. It was because of this that it was not surprising the way Jennifer, a beautiful young woman, of the typical stereotype of the American beauty, was being observed by her best friend. She was watching her as if she was crazy or as if she had some kind of mortal illness by her confession that she would prefer to be in her room that Saturday night.

"Are you really not going to Peter's concert? I can't believe it!"

Peter was her best friend's boyfriend; and although generally Jennifer would not put any objection to pleasing her friend, that night she didn't feel like to listen to the extravagant music that the man played; or pretending to be excited of the idea of being in a concert that she knew would finish in a fiasco.

"I am bit tired", Jennifer said. "On another occasion, maybe…"

"I can not believe it!" the other woman repeated. "I really want you to go with me!"

"Maybe another time…"

"Very well! But it is you who is going to miss out! I am going to take many photos, so when I show you them you will die of envy! You will regret for not going!"

Her best friend went to the room's door, opened it, but as she was going to leave she instead stayed in the doorway for a very long minute, as if she was thinking about something. Then she turned her face, so she could see her, and said:

"Are you sure you do not want to go?"

"Come on! I told you already, I am tired! You go to have fun. I am going to stay here. I will see you tomorrow; and then you are going to tell me everything about the concert, okay?"

The other woman sighed and said again:

"Well, it is you who is going to miss it."

And she went out, leaving Jennifer alone, who let out a big sigh, releasing the oxygen she did not know she had until in her lungs until now.

She stayed for another five minutes where she was, and when she was sure no one would listen to her, she ran to a sliding door, that separated the wardrobe from the rest of the room, and opened it.

"I am sorry for keeping you waiting", she said as soon as she slid the door.

"Do not worry", a man's voice answered.

Getting out of the wardrobe, standing in front of her, a tall and good looking man walked into the room, and when Jennifer saw him her eyes sparkled. She loved that man with every fiber of her being. For her, there was not another person as perfect as him. Gentle, affectionate, detail-oriented, he was to her everything that a woman could ask in a man. What fascinated Jennifer most were his breathtaking red eyes.

"Well, where were we?" the man asked with a seductive voice that made Jennifer's blush.

The real cause that she did not want to go out that night was not just because she did not want to be at Peter's concert. What her friend did not know, while she was excusing herself for not accompany her to her boyfriend's recital, was that minutes before she had arrived at her room she had received the fortunate visit of this wonderful being, who she loved so much. Now that they were alone they could continue with their kisses and caresses, and that idea made her feel excited.

The man came closer to her and Jennifer closed her eyes in an instinctive act, waiting to receive the soft lips of her lover on hers, which happened immediately. They kissed with passion; and when his hands went down her body with delicious slowness, until they rested on her hips, she felt her heart beat more quickly, waiting eagerly for what she knew that was going to come.

"Tonight I am going to make you feel something you have never have felt before", the man whispered in her ear.

If it were possible, Jennifer felt even more excited. She was ready! She was quite ready to receive everything that this man was going to offer to her! But when between their caresses she felt the cold of a knife stabbing her stomach, she realized that she was not the slightest prepare to take what the other had geared up for her.

She felt her blood leaving her from the new opened wound while the other continued stabbing her body with his deadly knife as if he expected to open the stab until reached her back.

She saw his red eyes, the same eyes that a few seconds ago spoke to her with the language of love. But now those same eyes observed her in a mocking way, showing the evident happiness that the owner of them felt by seeing her dying moment by moment. They were the eyes of a demon.

Life escaped of her. She tried to do her best to hold to what was left of her breath, but it was trickling away with terrible speed.

"Welcome to hell, my darling", the man said with sarcasm.

And that was the last thing Jennifer heard before being hugged by arms of the death.

* * *

It was always a nagging feeling to have to go to police station at first dawn, but it was even more bothersome when the motive to wake up in the middle of the night and leave the comfort of home was the murder of someone, and even more so when the victim was a young one.

As a detective, murder cases were David Craig's bread and butter, but never, not in his worst nightmare, he would have imagined being involved in so horrible an experience. Since four months ago, a ruthless murderer, cold, without heart (and if he had one, he was the most evil of the beings), had terrified the whole society, and even the police, with a series of murders committed against young women, whose only guilt was to be too innocent.

But that piece of shit did not only bothered killing them, but also he maimed them, and Craig was tired of seeing photo after photo of the different crime scenes, all of them showing the same: dissected bodies, the parts separated all over the room as if they were some kind of puzzle pieces and arranged in a sort of artwork of the most horrible taste.

David Craig had never seen something like that during his professional career. It was like Jack the Ripper had raised from his tomb, but instead of killing prostitutes he attacked young women.

He arrived to the police station quicker than he had wished. Inside, in a small office in which was a large table and a projector, his boss, as well as some of his coworkers were already there. After cold greetings and thanking someone who brought him coffee, he sat down and waited until somebody said what was needed to be said.

"Well", his boss began, bringing the attention of everyone over him, "last night another murder was committed. The modus operandi, the same. A Caucasian woman, twenty two years old, blonde, five feet six inches, thin complexion. Her name was Jennifer Wilson. She was a college student, who was studying medicine. Her body was found by, who said she was her best friend, Miss Katie Garcia. She said she had seen her before going to a concert, and when she returned she went to her room to see if she was still awake, finding her lifeless. Miss Garcia pointed out, when she was asked about it, that miss Wilson was a timid young, that preferred to be in her room instead of any other place on the campus, that she liked to read, that she was, until then, the best student of her career, and that some of her classmates used to mock her because of her shyness, which made her even more solitary. As for the body…"

He turned on the projector, and continued talking while a series of slides were shown against the white wall in front of mechanism:

"The forensic team said that she was killed by a stab wound to the stomach. Then her neck was severed in a clean and professional way", the sarcastic laugh that came after that sentence was heard in the whole place. "As ever the limps were cut off, removed all the organs removed and spread all over the room."

David Craig quivered with anger when the images of legs, arms, lungs, stomach, kidneys, intestine displayed all over the place passed in front of his eyes, as if somebody had disarmed a doll and did not bother to pick up the parts, except that they were not pieces that belonged to a doll but a human being. Another slide showed the reproductive system of the victim, which lay on the bed, along with an eyeless head, both surrounded by red rose petals, so brilliant and fresh that they seemed false. The eyes were in the nightstand. Meanwhile her jaw hung on a nail, probably intended to hold the woman's key.

"Her heart, on the other hand, was nailed to the wall above the bed with the crime weapon."

Another slide showed the true of his words.

"The same as always, we do not have a single clue. Without print, footprints or hair that helps us find the DNA of the murderer, we can do nothing. Actually, it looks as if that monster was not even there. If it was not for the body…"

Or what remained of it, Craig thought.

"Sir", suddenly a hand raised in the air, interrupting the other man. "Did our murderer sign his murder again?"

"Oh yes!" answered the boss.

He put a slide in the machine that showed two pair of eyes drawn in a wall, with verticals pupils, such as a cat. They were made with the blood of the victim, as well as these words: "The red-eyed monster was here."

"That shit!" Craig said to himself.

The boss continued:

"A mold was taken from the murderer's writing, but without any information that can help us to compare this to the correct handwriting we have our hands tied."

A deadly silent fell over the room. Everybody was thinking the same thing: until the murderer attacked again they would not have the chance to apprehend him. Someday, taken by his arrogance, he would commit a mistake, and then not the devil himself could save him.

But even knowing this did not made them feel any less remorse; and David Craig asked him the same question that all his coworkers were asking to themselves: who was going to be the next victim of the red-eyed monster?

* * *

It was seven o'clock when Hinata Hyuga opened her eyes to the world. Next to her, on the nightstand, the alarm clock was sounding with an angry tone, as if it was reprimanding her for still being in bed. The young woman slid out of the sheets and set her feet on the soft floor of her room, ready for a new day.

But that day was not a normal one, at least for the woman. That day meant to her a journey of adolescence to adulthood, to leave behind the childhood years and enter in the world of being an adult. That day marked Hinata's beginning at university, and she could not be more excited with the idea of beginning this new adventure.

She moved quickly to the bathroom to prepare herself. While she waited for the bathtub to fill of water she took a moment to see herself in the mirror, and the image that it gave back was that of a very pretty young woman, with long dark hair, white skin and two pair of big pearl eyes. Those could be weird for anyone who did not know about her heritage, because those were a hereditary trait that all of the members of the Hyuga family had.

After taking her bath she returned to her room wrapped in a bathrobe, while her hair was firmly pressed by a towel. She went to her wardrobe to look for something to wear.

That day did not only mark a new phase in her life, but also a new Hinata. Ever since she could remember she was always being mocked for her shyness, and Hinata had made the things worse for her by wearing baggy clothes, which made her look dowdy and bigger than she was. For this reason she had made a resolution, in this new stage of her life, and it was of dress in an appropriate way for her body, or at least try it with small and comfortable steps.

So she opted for a pair of jeans, which ended at the level of her ankles, a shirt that covered her just the necessary, without hugging her body in an uncomfortable way, and a jacket to complete the outfit. Regarding her shoes, well… Hinata thought about them. She had settled her eyes in a pair of heeled shoes, but she had never worn that type of footwear in her life, and imagining herself doing it frightened her a little.

"It is going to be better if I wear the sandals", she said to herself at last.

And she did so.

Meanwhile she was thinking of wearing makeup or not, her smartphone began to ring, telling her that she had received a new message. She quickly grabbed the phone and saw that what she had got was a video. When she opened it, the screen showed a woman's face with pink hair and light green eyes, together with another woman, this time blonde with blue eyes; and soon their voices filled the room:

"Hina-chan!" the woman with pink hair cried out. "I hope you are getting ready to go to college! Or I swear that I am going to come to your home to drag you with us!"

"And do not forget to be beautiful for you-know-who", the blonde exclaimed, winking an eye in her direction.

"We will see you at the university!" the first one said. "Until then!"

The video ended there. Hinata was happy. Receiving a video of her two best, and maybe only, friends, Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka, was certainly something to celebrate. But also she was blushing. "Do not forget to be beautiful for you-know-who", Ino had told her.

As if a spring made her move, she went to her bureau. She opened the right side drawer and picked up a photo that was very special to her from the inside. In the picture were two young children, a boy and a girl. The girl was her. As for her companion, his name was Naruto Uzumaki, and he was the love of her life since she had known him.

Naruto and she had been friends for a long time, but Hinata always had felt something more than friendship for him. During their years in the high school, her feelings for the Uzumaki had gotten stronger; and she would have confessed her love for him if not of her shyness.

Certainly, the Hinata Hyuga of the photo, with her baggy clothes, her shy face and her hair up in two ponytails in each side of her face, would not have an opportunity with the guy. But the Hinata of now… She saw her face in the bureau mirror and then the photograph, the blue sky eyes of the young man and his brilliant smile, and an immediate resolution was built inside her. She took the makeup kit that Sakura had given her and she put some on. She did not do anything exaggerated, leaving her face in a very natural way, but the result was evident, and she ended liking what she saw in the mirror. This time she would have the courage to tell Naruto what she felt for him. Now she was a different kind of Hinata.

A knock in the room's door snapped her out of her musings. Hinata was quick to open the door, finding on the other side of it the face of one of the chambermaid of the Hyuga household.

"Miss", she said, "I would like to know if your luggage is ready."

"Yes", she said, and opened the door even more, pointing out with her finger in the direction of a pair of baggage lying on the floor, next to her bureau.

The maid motioned to a person behind her and then she and another woman entered her room, picking up the luggage.

"Breakfast is ready, miss", the chambermaid said before leaving the room.

Quickly Hinata arranged some of her belongings in a big purse, which she intended to bring with her when she left, and went out of her room, taking the staircase that would connect her to the dining room.

She was in a really good mood, and she felt like nothing could make her change that, but when she entered the dining room and found the cold face of her father, all the security that she had accumulated inside her weakened.

Hiashi Hyuga was a cold man, and for the most of his rivals a heartless person, who reigned with his coldness for everyone in equal measure, even his two daughters, Hinata and her little sister Hanabi, but Hinata the most. Since she was a little girl she had always been a failure for her father, and even though she had tried to be a better person for him, he had never seen her in another way. Hinata loved her father, and she knew that, deep down at least, Hiashi loved her, but that did not inhibit her to be nervous in his presence.

"Father", she saluted with courtesy and the most tranquility she could gather.

"As always, you arrived late to breakfast", that was the way Hiashi welcomed her. "Let's see if the university changes these bad habits of yours."

Hinata bit her lip to avoid saying something inadequate.

"Medicine, is not it?" her father asked, bringing her attention over him.

"Yes", she answered trying to control her trembling voice, which so many times had caused her father's anger.

Hiashi let out an angry snort.

"Well, I knew you never have had the qualities to take the family business. That was why I put Neji in charge of them."

Neji Hyuga was Hinata's cousin.

"But I suppose you would have made to your mother happy", Hiashi continued.

Hinata's eyes sparkled. That was until then the most touching thing her father had said to her. To talk about her mother was something really special for her; and even though she was dead, Hinata kept her memory with love.

"By the way", the head of the Hyuga family said, "you look… different."

Hinata blushed.

"I hope no man have anything to do with your change."

"No, father! I am doing this for myself."

"Very well", Hiashi looked her dryly. "Because if you stain the Hyuga name with an unwanted pregnancy I am going to…", he shook his fist in the air, showing Hinata very well what was going to happen to her if she had the baby of a man unworthy in her father's eyes. "But you look… beautiful. Yes, beautiful. Every day you look more and more like your mother."

Hinata could not believe her luck. Two gratifications from her father in one day!

"What are you waiting for? Sit down to breakfast!" Hiashi said, interrupting her moment of glory.

Hinata did not make her father wait and took a seat at the table, to the right of the man. While she was serving herself some tea, the fleeting shadow of a teenager with brown hair came to them running. It was her little sister, who saw her father and her sister while she was red-faced and tiredly breathing, as if she had just arrived from a marathon.

"Hanabi, what have I told you about running in the house?" the man scolded her.

"I am sorry! I felt asleep!" the young one excused herself.

Their father indicated with soft patters the seat on his left side, saying to Hanabi to sit down, and she did so. The three Hyuga sat down at the table and took their breakfast silently. Outside the sun was up in the sky, projecting the shadows of every life being under its rays. Hinata was amazed by the morning colors when a groan of her father called her attention.

"What happened?" she asked.

"That monster!" Hiashi muttered, waving the newspaper he had in his hands.

And then he passed her the paper, which Hinata took. Her eyes fell immediately on the report that surely had irritated her father.

 **THE RED-EYED DEMON STRIKES AGAIN**

 _Saturday night a young woman named Jenifer Wilson was found murdered in her college residence, which joins the long list of, for now, five victims of the so called red-eyed demon. In the same manner as the other murders, the victim was maimed and exposed in a grim game, for the only joy of the murderer. The police, who until now have not found any trace that could take them to the whereabouts of this demon, said that they are doing all that they can do to finish these senseless slaughters._

 _It is impossible for us to publish the crime scene photos, but if our readers want to know more, you can see them in our web page, although we warn that they are of a very graphic material._

 _Meanwhile the only thing what we can do is to ask ourselves who is going to be the next victim of the red-eyed demon, and if the police will find him in time to save her life, and in this way many life of more young women._

Hinata felt her mouth dry and she had to gulp to pass the bad news she had just read.

"I hope the police catch him soon", her father muttered.

"Me too", she said.

"To catch who?" Hanabi interrupted, seeing them with a confused look.

Hiashi and Hinata exchanged a glance, and she was sure that her father and she had thought the same thing: Hanabi could not know; she was still too young and innocent to be subjected to the horrors of the world.

"A bad guy, who deserves all the punishment of the world", Hiashi said at last, ruffling the hair of his younger daughter in a playful way.

Hanabi tried to look as if she was angry, even as she moved her head to get away of the playful hand of her father, but she could not, and Hinata, seeing her smiling and her father in that joyful behavior, felt very happy.

They finished taking breakfast, and Hinata went to her room to pick up her purse. In the entrance of the luxurious Hyuga mansion, the automobile that was going to drive her to the university was waiting for her arrival.

While her belongings were being put in the trunk, Hanabi came closer to her:

"You are going already", she said with sadness. "I am going to miss you."

"Me too, Hanabi", Hinata answered, smiling to her.

"By the way", the youngest of them murmured, "you look pretty today. Who is the lucky guy?"

Hinata's cheek turned red, and she cursed her stutter for returning just then:

"Wha-wha-what are you trying to say…?"

"Come on, sister, I know you have a boyfriend", Hanabi said with mischievous expression.

"Me… no… no… Do you have a boyfriend?" Hinata asked finally to leave the quagmire she was in.

"Maybe."

"Hanabi!"

"Shhh, be quiet! If dad finds out…"

Hinata sighed, but she said nothing.

When the chauffeur made a gesture that everything was ready, she hugged her little sister, promised her to send as many message as possible and made her promise that she would take care of herself.

She was about to climb in the car when a hand in her shoulder made her stopped.

"Hinata, be careful", Hiashi said.

Hinata saw him, barely containing her tears. It had been so long since she had felt but the harsh gaze of his father on her, receiving neither flattery nor advice. Now the same man showed his preoccupation for her. She felt more loved than ever.

"I will", she said.

And she climbed in the car, saying goodbye to her family from de car window, which she was letting behind.

Five hours later she arrived to the college. Hinata had never imagined anything like that. The campus was gorgeous with its huge green areas and its tall trees, but what impressed her most were all the people gathered there. People everywhere, a mix of professors, students and parents, a whole fan of different kind of personalities. Hinata could not stop her surprise when she felt, most at all, the curious looks of some guys on her. She did not know whether to feel uncomfortable or excited. She had been waiting for that kind of reception all her life, to be see not as a freak but as a young woman with feelings, but now that she was in that situation she did not know what to do.

"Well, it will be better if you get use to this", she said to herself.

But suddenly all the people were overshadowed by the loud voice of her friend:

"Hinata!"

Sakura's pink hair approached her, getting unruly by the run of its owner. Behind her, almost dragged, followed her side a young man with aristocrats factions, black hair and some disdainful expression in his black eyes. His name was Sasuke Uchiha.

"We have been waiting until you got here", Sakura complained when she was by her side. "But look at you. You look beautiful!"

"Thank you, Sakura", Hinata answered. "You look very gorgeous, too. Hello, Sasuke", she said in the man's direction.

Sasuke was a kind of cousin to Hinata. The Uchiha and Hyuga families were related by economic and familial bonds, and it was because of them that the young woman always treated the man with some respect. She was used to the cold stares of the Uchiha, that was not only intended to her but for everyone, so she get surprise when she felt the young man's eyes on her seeing her with interest.

"Hinata", Sasuke murmured. "You look good…"

Hinata blushed, feeling strange.

"Thank you", she said in low voice.

An awkward silence was built between the three.

"I have to say goodbye to my parents", Sasuke said suddenly with an uncomfortable voice, and as soon as he said that he left.

When they were alone Hinata realized the strange way Sakura was looking at her, who with her brows down saw her with a dismissive glare.

"Are you trying to stealing my boyfriend?" she asked.

"No!" Hinata exclaimed as quickly as she could, moving the hands in front of her.

Minutes passed while a sepulchral silent positioned over their heads. Suddenly Sakura winked an eye to her and stuck out her tongue.

"I am kidding with you, you silly! I know you are incapable of doing something like that to me."

Sakura linked her arm with her.

"But Sasuke is right", she continued, "you look very good, and you know that special guy who is going to appreciate it!"

Hinata blushed again. Naruto.

"Is he here?" she asked, nervous.

"No, no yet", Sakura answered. "You know that he is the last person to arrive and the first one to leave."

She was almost going to say to Sakura to not speak in such terms of Naruto, but the other woman continued, leaving not time to her to say anything:

"But do not worry, I am sure he will notice you, and if you do not confess that you love him, I am going to say it!"

"Sakura!" she complained, blushing.

"I was thinking with Ino", the pink-haired continued, "that the best scenario for both of you to see each other again is a party. After all we are seeing each other again after high school, so is the perfect excuse to have one. Ino is preparing everything. Meanwhile we will go to buy you a new dress. Without complaint!" Sakura warned her. "You should look amazing. That is the best way to be sure that the stupid of Naruto will see you."

Hinata blushed once more, but she had not stopped feeling excited. For some time Sakura had taken up the cause of making Naruto and Hinata a couple, and she had done all she could for the Uzumaki to realize he was in love with Hinata or give the Hyuga the courage to confess to him her feelings, but until then without success. But now Hinata was a new woman, more decisive, stronger, and this time she would not doubt tell Naruto the truth.

The next they did when the campus was free of parents was going to their rooms. Hinata and Sakura shared the same place, and it was an extensive site, with everything the two women could wish for. Separate rooms, a bathroom for each one, a kitchen, a huge living room and, for Hinata's joy, a comfortable study room.

After leaving their belongings in their new place, and Hinata taken a moment to say goodbye to the chauffeur who had brought her to the university, Sakura dragged her to a known fashion shop, which had its branch not far from the campus.

One of the salesperson approached them with a helpful disposition, and Sakura said to her:

"I need a dress for my friend", she said, pointing out to Hinata. "I want her to look amazing for the man who she has been in love all her life, so he can realize he love her too. Maybe an adequate dress, that fit her but does not make her look like a whore."

"Sakura…" Hinata mumbled, feeling horrible by the way her friend talked.

"She has big boops", Sakura continued like she did not hear her, "that can be a problem, but also a blessing."

And after saying that, she went behind her back, stretching the fabric of her shirt, so the saleswoman could see how big her breasts were. Hinata wanted to die.

"Do you have something suitable to our needs?" the pink-haired finished.

"Of course!" the saleswoman said. "Follow me!"

Then Hinata was subjected to wearing all type of dresses, but most of them were frankly ugly. No, that one was skin-tight. Red? Please, no! Could that even be called a dress?

At last the saleswoman brought them a blue dress.

"I am sure this is the one for you", she said to Hinata.

Hinata, distrustful, put on the dress and when she left the dressing room, she could have sworn that the saleswoman and Sakura's mouth were going to end up on the floor by the way they hung open.

"You look… gorgeous…" Sakura said breathless.

The saleswoman confirmed what Sakura had said with an eloquent nod.

Hinata saw herself in the mirror and she had to recognize that she did look beautiful. The dress was simple, navy color, which fitted her body snuggly but not in uncomfortable way. It ended at the knees; and when the saleswoman brought her a pair of heels of the same color of the dress and put around her neck a silver necklace, Hinata felt like she was a princess.

"We take it!" Sakura exclaimed.

They paid for the dress and returned to their shared room. During the hours that remained till the beginning of the party, Sakura practiced all kind of hairstyles on her, finally deciding to let it down in its natural form. Later she put makeup on her; and left her side so she could prepare for the event herself.

Hinata put on the dress, wore a silver necklace, inheritance from her mother, around the neck, and dressed matching heels. When she looked herself in the mirror , she was speechless. Now the woman that saw her had blue eye shadow, mascara, some blush and light pink lips. And she had to admit how pretty she was.

She was about to leave the room when she heard voices:

"Even Sasuke said she looks good. Imagine it! Sasuke! Sometimes I have to force him to give a compliment to me!"

"Impressive, really impressive!"

"I swear to you, Ino, that if Naruto does not pay attention to her at the party, I am going to kill him! Ah, Hinata, there you are…"

Caught in flagrante delicto, Hinata stepped forward, letting Sakura and Ino see her. Both friends looked at her amazed.

"You look wonderful, Hinata!" Ino said, smiling to her.

"Thank you, Ino. You too."

Hinata took a look of what the other women were wearing. Ino, with her long blonde hair waving loose behind her back, was wearing a violet dress that left little to the imagination. Sakura was wearing a short, one-shoulder dress, black in color, accompanying the garment with a headband of the same color of her dress.

"Are you ready to go?" Sakura asked, stretching a hand in her direction.

The three friends left the apartment. Sasuke and Ino's boyfriend, a guy named Sai, were waiting for them. Hinata said good evening to them and the five young began their walk to the location the party would take place. The cold wind typical of the late summer nights made her shiver, but when she was lamenting not bringing something to protect her skin from the weather, they had arrived to the place where the blonde had prepared everything to enjoy the night.

Inside she could hear the sound of voices, the loudness of the music and noises of people while drinking and eating. Hinata could not walk two steps without meeting one of her old friends from high school, whom, like Sakura, were impressed by her change. Hinata's egos was growing higher and higher, and moreover when the same people who used to mock her during her teenagers' years saw her with apprehension, and were even in the obligation to confess how good she looked.

But even though Hinata did not stop searching she could not find any trace of Naruto. Where was he? Maybe had he not been admitted in college? Had he decided to not come to the party?

She was getting nervous when suddenly she saw the face of the love of her life. Naruto looked different. His hair was still blonde, his skin tanned and the eyes of the same blue sky tone that Hinata loved so much. But he was taller than she remembered, his hair was shorter and his features were no longer of those of a child but of a grown adult.

When their eyes met, and Naruto smiled to her, with that marvelous smile she loved, Hinata felt like she was going to faint. Where was the talk of the morning, her words of encouragement? She was now a new Hinata and now she behaved like the old one!

"I have to pull myself together! I have to pull myself together!" she said to herself.

"Hinata, long time no see you!" Naruto exclaimed when he got closer to her.

Hinata was too excited to remind to him that they had stopped seeing each other only during the summer, which meant only three months.

"Naruto…"

She did not realize until it was too late the moment when the blond had taken her hands between his, and Hinata had to barely contain the urge to faint because of the happiness.

"You look really pretty", the Uzumaki said.

Hinata blushed.

"Do you really think so?" she asked.

Naruto nodded, smiling.

"You too… you too… you look handsome, Naruto."

He released one of her hands to scratch his neck, a gesture that Hinata knew he did when he was nervous. She realized he was blushing.

"Hinata", Naruto continued, "I want to introduce you to someone, if you do not mind."

"Of course not!" the young woman said.

The blonde motioned to someone in the salon. After some minutes a beautiful woman approached them, and Hinata could not stop asking herself what was going on.

"This is Hinata", Naruto said to the other woman. "She is one of my best friends. Hina-chan, this is my girlfriend..."

And Hinata did not hear more.

Naruto had a girlfriend… he had a girlfriend… and it was not she! She began to feel sick.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Hinata. Naruto has spoken a lot about you", the woman said, shaking Hinata's hand.

"The pleasure is all mine", Hinata said, faking the best she could the happiness she felt for the couple. "If you do not mind…" she continued, making a move to retire.

The couple did not seem especially upset for her retiring, and Hinata left their side feeling betrayed, tired, but most of all stupid.

When she told Sakura what had happened she could not believe it.

"Naruto has a girlfriend?!"

The people who were near them saw her with angry expressions for having raised the voice so high, but Sakura ignored them.

"So it seems", Hinata said.

"I can not believe it. I can not believe it! Me, who has been his friend since we were four, and he did not tell me!"

"Well, he told me", Sasuke intervened.

"And did you not tell me?!" Sakura scolded.

"I thought he had told you", her boyfriend apologized, somewhat embarrassed by her cries.

"No!"

If sometime during the night Hinata had experienced any eagerness for attending the party it had already vanished. She wanted to go to her room and sleep, sleep and sleep until what had happened was nothing more than an ugly nightmare.

She apologized to her friend, saying:

"I am sorry, Sakura, but I believe it will be better for me to go to my room. I am tired."

Sakura looked at her with pity.

"I am very sorry, Hinata", she said.

She shook her head.

"It is not your fault. Please, have fun. I am going to sleep."

"Fine", Sakura said despite her. "Have a good sleep."

Hinata nodded and left. When she had been out her room and had gone to that place she had felt like the road was short, but now it was like she must walk through a desert to get to her destiny.

She began to walk. It was cold, so she tried her best to hug herself against the coldness.

"I must look stupid", she thought, mocking of herself and her bad luck.

"Can I know what a beautiful woman such as you is doing walking alone on a lovely night like this?"

Hinata froze. Someone was talking to her?

She searched with her eyes the source of the voice until she saw a person sitting down on a tree trunk some meters above her. Besides its legs, which hung in the air, the rest of the body was in shadows, save a pair of big red eyes.

* * *

Hello everyone! I hope you like the fic, and if that so please take some time to leave me a review, I will appreciate it very much. Until the next chapter!


	2. Chapter II

**The red-eyed monster**

 _A series of murders against young and innocent's women put in check the police and the society. Without clues or any links to lead the police to the whereabouts of this cruel monster, can Hinata Hyuga be saved in time before her name join the list of the victims of the so call red-eyed demon?_

 **Disclaimer:** Naruto and its characters don't belong to me, but Masashi Kishimoto.

Sorry for my english, it's the first time I write in english. I beg your pardon for my grammar errors.

Before the chapter start I want to say two things. First, thanks to all the people who took time of their lives to read me, to leave me a review, follow my story, leave the story a favorite and follow me as your favorite author, I thank you all with all my heart. Second, despite of what is going to happen in this fic, I want to make clear that the main pairing is Naruto and Hinata (besides Sasuke and Sakura), so don't worry if things go bad for them as a couple at the beginning, they're going to be together.

Clarified this point, let's begin!

* * *

 **Chapter II**

"Can I know what a beautiful woman such as you is doing walking alone on a lovely night like this?"

Hinata froze. Someone was talking to her?

She searched with her eyes the source of the voice until she saw a person sitting down on a tree trunk some meters above her. Besides its legs, which hung in the air, the rest of the body was in shadows, save a pair of big red eyes.

Some minutes passed in the most profound silence. With her brain slept, as if someone had broken the circuit with which her neurons were loaded with electricity, Hinata observed astonished these pair of eyes, without knowing how those could have such tonality (it was the first time she saw somebody with red eyes), but especially without knowing what to do next.

A fight between her instincts and her alert system began inside her. There was something about the way this unknown being saw her that attracted her, but that also made her nervous. Maybe was by the way the red of his eyes shone, with certain mystical aura, around the shadows engulfing his owner or by how these were fixed in her, making Hinata feel like she was under two powerful X-rays, but one part of her wanted to stay and find out more about this mysterious person, while the other demanded to her to run away, and immediately.

Then, suddenly, where darkness was emerged the light, and Hinata finally got out of her stupor in time for her brain's engine to put back into operation. Moments later all in her mind began to fit: Red eyes? Where had she read about them? She then recalled what had happened that same morning, when she had been reading the newspaper, and a special article in it, which related to the death of a young woman called Jennifer Wilson, who had been killed in a horrible manner, and his murderer… the red-eyed monster.

She got so nervous that she barely could contain the panic attack that was coming upon her. Mustering the little amount of cold blood remaining in her insides, she said to herself that if she did not want to become the sixth victim of the red-eyed killer she must flee from there at full speed.

But, as she had discovered so many times during her life, it was quite difficult to put words into actions. It was not that Hinata had not started running, but something had stopped her. While she was undertaking the escape she heard behind her back the sound of someone falling to the floor from a relative high distance, followed, seconds later, by a hand holding her wrist with force.

She tried to push her hand from the grip with despair, but who was holding her was strong, and Hinata soon gave up.

"Let me go! Please, let me go!" she begged, almost crying.

Immediately her wrist was released.

Hinata got surprised. If that person was really the red-eyed monster, why he had let her free so easily?

"I am sorry for scaring you", she heard a masculine voice speaking suddenly, surprising her even more, "but I thought you had cold."

And then she felt a soft and warm garment settling over her shoulders. Surprised as she was she had forgotten the cold she was feeling. She observed from the corner of her eyes that it was a man's jacket, brown color.

"Besides", he continued, "I could not help my surprise to see a pretty woman as you walking alone, without the company of her lover. Sometimes I believe life is unfair for allowing such aberrations."

Hinata blushed. Either was because of the heat that the jacket was leaving in her skin or for the manner he had talked, but a sensation of comforting concern was ruffling her heart. For the moment she forgot everything around her that did not matter except for the unknown being at her side, even what had happened with Naruto in the party.

She decided it was time to know the owner of the red eyes, so she turned around to observe the person who was with her. Her face got immediately red and her mouth opened a little, trembling, as if she was mumbling unintelligible words.

In front of her was a very tall man, at least for her height, brown-skinned, short hair, with a color resulting of the combination of red and orange, and strong complexion. Hinata studied his face slowly, the square and strong jaw, the fresh cheeks, the broad forehead and the thin lines of his lips, all this accompanied by the enigmatic red eyes. He was decidedly handsome, she thought.

Besides being a good looking man, he was also chivalrous. Hinata felt the heartwarming heat of the man's jacket over her. Never someone had been so kind with her.

"My name is Krupal", the man said, extending his hand toward her. "What is your name, gorgeous lady?"

"I…" she felt embarrassed by the compliment. "My name… my name is Hinata…"

"A beautiful name, Hinata, the perfect name for a beautiful miss as you."

Hinata blushed again. Did he really consider her beautiful?

As distracted as she was she forgot the extended hand of the man towards her, so when she felt Krupal's hand joining hers she jumped by the surprise.

The man's hand left in hers a warmth sensation. They shook hands in a friendly way, but when he was going to let her hand free, Hinata held Krupal's hand between hers. The man looked as the action did not bother him.

She studied them, marveling by the difference between them, hers white, delicate and feminine, and his, brown-skinned, strong and masculine.

When at last Hinata let go of his hand, Krupal said:

"Pardon my insistence, but you did not answer my question. It surprises me that you do not have a boyfriend, or someone who follow you. You are very pretty to be alone!"

Again the man's flattery put her nervous.

"I… A party…"

"I see!" Krupal exclaimed. "You were in a party looking for a boyfriend!"

Hinata felt her face burning, and even it seemed like puffs of steam came out of her ears.

"Come on, little one, do not blush! It is a common practice between young ladies of your age, even more in college!"

Krupal laughed, with a hearty laugh that Hinata found pleasurable.

"Well, enough with my taunts", Krupal said, smiling to her. "What did you do before we met, little one?"

"I was going to my residence…"

"Oh! Then excuse me for having retained you while all you are wanting is to rest", he said.

"Do not worry!" Hinata exclaimed, moving her hands in front of her.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Hinata. We will see soon, beautiful. Have a good night."

Krupal left her side, leaving her alone, alone and confused. While she observed his masculine form walking away in the darkness, a restlessness sensation formed inside her. What did he want to mean when he said they were going to see soon? Hinata did not have a bad feeling, but the impression that the man knew something she did not… She shook her head, she was imagining nonsenses.

Besides, what were the bad things she could expect from a man like him, perfect in appearance? Even though his eyes had that tone, Hinata was sure that he was not the red-eyed monster. The red-eyed killer must be a ruthless man, a heartless person, which if he really had noticed her Hinata would not have time to say her prayers before being brutally kill. The red-eyed demon was not going out there giving his jacket to a unknown young woman, having a conversation with her and saying each time he could how beautiful he considered her.

But the worry for the red-eyed monster, and even her encounter with Krupal, disappeared from her mind. She was not far from the place where the party organized by Sakura and Ino was taking place, so she could see if someone enter or come out of the location. In that very moment the door opened and Naruto and his girlfriend came out from there. They were smiling, holding their hands – hands that were not hers -, and seeing them like that broke her heart again. The urgency to flee from there grew up in her chest once more. A strange cold took possession of her body, and the sensation was so intense that neither Krupal's jacket could protect her from such ruthlessness.

When she arrived to her residence she felt exhausted, not only physically, because the run had left her out of breath, but also in her soul. After she got inside her room, she shut the door and, leaning on its surface, she fell down on the floor. She took her hands over her face and, in total loneliness, she began to cry.

But the next morning, as strange as it sounded, she felt quite better. She had slept profoundly; and she had had a very pleasant dream in which despite of her fears – that had consisted in attending to Naruto and his girlfriend's wedding, and then being persecuted and almost killed by the monstrous red-eyed demon -, Krupal came to save her against her nightmares. Maybe was for the dream or because she had woken up to find herself hugging the jacket Krupal had gave her last night, making her feeling in a certain way that he was with her, but Hinata felt a renewed confidence in herself.

It was not like that what happened with Naruto no longer hurt her, the opposite; but Hinata had grew up and now she was an adult woman, not a teenager, to continue giving in to with her emotions like a paper in the wind. If she had to wait for the moment in which the love of her life would notice her, she would do it, and with pleasure. She was sure that at any time her patience would be rewarded, that someday she was going to walk at Naruto's side, guiding he on his way and living with him the most marvelous experiences.

In spite of what had happened she was happy for him. If he was happy, then she was; and if Hinata had waited so long to be at his side, would she mind waiting a little longer?

Feeling a smile decorating her mouth, she observed around the room to find her beautiful blue dress lying on the desk chair without any care, as well as her mother's silver necklace in the nightstand and a path of cottons with makeup, which started in the bathroom and ended some meters inside the room.

She remembered that last night, desultory as she was, she undressed and she had removed the makeup carelessly, trying to get rid of the heavy ornaments as quickly as she could to go to sleep immediately.

She rose from the bed, stretched like a cat until she felt some bones loosened up by the movement, and put on the slippers. Then she began to pick up the remains of the disaster. She put the silver necklace on its case, picked up the dress and ironed it, with an iron she had brought from home, leaving it in wardrobe, and threw away the cottons in the trash bin.

"It looks better", she said, making a nod with her head, when the room was finally clean.

After seeing that it was still early, she washed her face and went to the kitchen to make breakfast.

One of the things Hinata liked the most was the cooking, and she was very good with it.

Decided to cook pancakes for breakfast, she took a bowl, flour, eggs, milk, butter and vanilla extract, and began to elaborate the mix. While she was putting the final touches to the mass, she put the frying pan on the oven, a spoon of butter in it, and minutes later she began to cook the pancakes, feeling excited when she saw the results she was obtaining.

While she was putting the pancakes in a transparent tray, Sakura came out of her room looking like she did not feel well at all. She had a greenish look and walked back and forth. Hinata, who was observing her while she left on the table the results of her cooking, saw her with preoccupation, worried that she was going to fall any time by her gait walking.

"Sakura, what happens?" Hinata ask, worried.

"I… I drank too much…" the pink hair mumbled, at last falling on the floor.

Hinata went by her side to aid her. Summoning her strength, because Sakura was stronger than her, she forced her friend to sit down in one of the couches. Then she served her a glass of water, which the young woman drank as soon as she gave it. It would have been better if she had not done that, because seconds later a spasm attacked her, but in the moment Hinata thought Sakura was going to throw up, she recomposed.

"Do you feel better?" the Hyuga asked, smiling to her.

"Yes", Sakura answered. "For God sake, I should not have drunk that much! What a horrible perspective begin class with a hangover! And our tenured professor is August Blunt!"

That university was different from the others, like for example in their professors. Unlike other colleges, in which the students see classes with different teachers, all of them specialized in a subject, in that college every school year had a tenured professor. For Sakura and Hinata, who were in the first grade of medicine, their permanent teacher was a recognized doctor called August Blunt, for whom the pink haired, specially, professed a great admiration. Hinata had heard Sakura speaking countless times about August Blunt, and all her the plans that she had prepared so she could get the professor's autograph.

"Can you imagine him see me like this?! What is he going to say? I am his biggest fan, and can not allow him see me like this!"

"Please, Sakura, calm down", Hinata asked. "I will do everything I can to make you feel better before the class starts. Maybe I could make a…"

But she stopped suddenly, surprised. Sakura had got up from the couch and, like a dog, she began to smell, with her eyes close, something Hinata could not get. Some minutes later she sat down on the table and took a fork, saying to Hinata after that:

"If these are pancakes, I want to eat them."

"They are, but…" Hinata murmured.

"Do not argue! I am hungry. Your pancakes are always delicious; besides, you know what they say: a full stomach is the best cure for the hangover. So pour me."

Sighing, Hinata did as her friend wanted, and soon both women were sat down in the table, with two plates of pancakes in front of them. Sakura began to devour with pleasure, surprising her friend.

"Do you not must eat slower? So much food could make you sick", Hinata murmured.

"I am fine!" Sakura asseverated. "It is just that I am very hungry."

"Why you drank so much last night if you knew that today classes begin?" Hinata asked her, wanting to know the reason why her friend was in such sorry state.

Sakura sighed.

"I did not do it because I wanted", she said. "After you left the party, I talked with Naruto… no, I did not fight with him!" the woman exclaimed to Hinata's claim, "but almost. I was so tired of his 'Vanessa this', 'Vanessa that'…! That is the name of his stupid girlfriend, by the way. Well, I was so tired, so angry, that I began to drink. That was what happened."

"I am so sorry, Sakura", Hinata said, feeling very bad for her friend.

"It is that I want that stupid to realize what he lose by not chosen you!"

Hinata was momentarily carried by the sadness.

"And you, how are you feeling?" Sakura asked after some minutes of silence.

"I am fine", she answered.

Sakura looked at her, frowning.

"No, you are not."

"Yes, I am", Hinata insisted. "Today I woke up feeling much better than yesterday. I will not stop loving Naruto, but neither can I stop my life for this. If he loves his girlfriend… Vanessa… who I am to make he changes his mind?"

"Who are you? You are the only person who has loved him all his life!" her friend exclaimed. "Come on, Hinata, stop sacrificing yourself! You deserve the destiny which that stupid of Vanessa is having right now!"

"But it is not like that", Hinata said. "Things are not like we wanted, Sakura. Naruto has decided to walk a path different from me and I must accept it. If he has to notice me he will do it sometime, do you not think?"

Sakura sighed.

"Sometimes I do not know if you are stupid or a saint", she said.

Hinata smiled.

They finished their breakfast and the two friends went to their rooms to prepare for the day. Hinata took a shower, wore a pair of dark blue jeans, a blue shirt and a light brown jacket. She put lip-gloss on her lips and went out of her room.

Then the two friends went out of their residence to face their first day of class.

Although both had received a map of the university with their letters of admission, no one of them could clearly discern where exactly the building that held the Medical School was; and as soon Hinata discovered, it was easier to arrive to their destination by trial and error than asking somebody where they should go.

"Is that in this damn college nobody can help?!" Sakura exclaimed, out of control.

"Calm down, calm down", Hinata asked.

But when it seemed that the two friends were destined to lose their first day of class, Sasuke and Ino came to their aid. Both of them studied economy, and the buildings where the two careers were studied were nearby.

Sasuke, after he scolded them for being in a place where they were not supposed to be, offered to accompany them, and the group of four, Sakura hugging her boyfriend's arm with a grateful look and Ino talking with Hinata about how ridiculous their friend was behaving with her partner, moved through the campus until they arrived to their respective destinies.

"Have a good day of class!" Ino exclaimed before separating of them.

"You too!" Sakura and Hinata said at the same time.

The two friends ran to their classroom, sitting down at the same time their teacher made his entrance.

Showed up in the place an old man, who, in spite of having between sixty or seventy years old, had an energetic aspect. He was a small person, somewhat fat, with gray hair all over his face less in the head, where a prominent bald made gleam his skin under the lights of the classroom. He had a pair of glasses in front of his light blue eyes, which saw all his students with certain contempt, but also with certain interest.

"It is him! It is him!" Sakura exclaimed, excited.

Certainly, that man was August Blunt, and so he let them to know it:

"I am August Blunt and I will be your tenured professor of first grade of medicine. Before passing list, and even before knowing you and let you to know me, I want to see who are here really to study medicine and who thinks this career is a passport to success."

The whole classroom remained in silence. Hinata did not know how to interpret his words.

"Every one of you when you hear the word 'medicine' thinks in a hospital, in to cure people, but most of all in the big profits of the doctors. But for me medicine means the comprehension and the study the human body in its greater state of putrefaction! You, my young apprentice, look very pompous and beautiful, but suppose just for one minute that you have an accident, that your gracious bodies will result distorted by the horrible incident. What would you be at that time? That is", he continued, answering himself, "a ghastly bag of flesh, muscles, bones and blood: the putrefaction in its maximum essence!"

Blunt began to walk around the room, echoing the heels of his shoes against the floor. His disturbing and intelligent blue eyes studied them all.

"What separates you from a corpse?" the teacher asked.

"That we are alive, that is obvious", one of the students answered with an annoyed voice.

Suddenly the professor put his hands in an abrupt manner over the student desk, leaning ferociously over him, nailing in him his iron gaze, and the poor student made a squeak of terror that reverberated around the room. Hinata, as well as her classmates, freaked out.

"That is correct!" Blunt exclaimed. "But do you know, my good friend, what are you going to do as a doctor when you graduate and have the good fortune to get a job? You will have to see corpses! Moribund people, lifeless people; a body that is nothing more than a bag of excrement! And do you have the courage to see a human body in that state? I believe you are not!"

And he turned away, leaving the poor student, as well as the entire classroom, even more frightened.

"I believe, my young students, that neither of you have the courage to see a human being decomposing. But we doctors have to see it", he said while slapping himself in the chest. "A good medic does not faint, nor throw up, nor lose control over him before the human putrefaction. Will you be good doctors, my children? I do not know, only the time will say it. But what I can know right now is if you have the stomach to see a human being in its worst state. I swear to you that I have learned all your names and I know who you are, so whoever vomits or can not take what you will see will be out of my class and will not return ever again; and with luck, maybe, you will reconsider your career options."

Hinata and Sakura saw themselves with concern, and both gulped.

"Let me introduce to you, ladies and gentlemen, to my good friend, for someone I am very proud, my assistant Krupal Randhawa."

Krupal? Did she had heard right?

When she was thinking that what she had heard was a product of her imagination, the classroom door opened and a sound of something rolling was listened in the room. First came a stretcher, over which laid down a black bag, as those used to put corpses, and then a man, and this man was him: Krupal. Hinata recognized immediately the hair between orange and red, the brown-skinned and the intriguing red eyes of the same man with which she had talked the night before, the same who had given to her his jacket and, in her dream, the benefactor against her fears. Her cheeks blushed instantly.

As if he knew she was there, Krupal's eyes went up until meeting her. He dedicated her a smirk, and Hinata's cheeks became redder. Her heart began to beat very fast.

"Krupal, welcome to my class", August Blunt saluted him.

Both men made an acknowledgement gesture to themselves, and Krupal said:

"It is a pleasure to meet you all."

There were a group of girls in front of Hinata, which at first glance looked like they did not know where they were. For the short time she had been watching them, she realized that they were interested in everything but medicine. She had heard them talking about the last cries of fashion and what they had read about them favorite stars; and internally, in her mind, she thanked for not being like them. If that was the price to be popular, Hinata definitely did not want to pay it.

Now the same young women were exclaiming excited, throwing squeaks between them like a horde of animals in heat. She heard: "He is so handsome!"; "So great!"; "I hope he can give me his number!" Sakura and she laughed with low voice.

"Please, all draw near, circling the stretcher", the newcomer said, making a move with his hands for all to join him.

The students did so. Hinata and Sakura joined the group, taking a place near Randhawa. He had put the stretcher in the middle of the room, horizontal way, so all the presents drew closer to it, forming a crescent around him.

Krupal opened the bag zipper and the corpse of a man slipped out of the black folds of it. Immediately were heard spasms. The same girls that just a few minutes ago were praising the man for his good looking appearance were the first to fall. They run out of the room; and Hinata could see from the corner of her eye that the professor Blunt was smiling with malice, while he crossed out what she supposed were the names of the girls from a folder he had in his hands.

"I am going to open the body so you can see the organs", Krupal informed.

Then he took out a scalpel of a bag of utensils, which he had put on the stretcher, and began to work. While he opened the body more students fell preys of disgust, fleeing from there as souls who had seen the devil, while August Blunt, with a cheerful ditty, continued crossing out their names on the folder.

Meanwhile Hinata was marveling by the way Krupal was handling the scalpel. It was like she was seeing an orchestra director in a concert, which was moving his baton with incredible skills. It was like he was dancing with the utensil over the body, making accurate and fast cuts. Certainly they were the movements of an artist, and Hinata was speechless.

Soon the body was exposed, and the few students that remained, that easily did not exceed twenty, studied with astonishment the wonders of the human machinery. Hinata saw the man's open body with interest. August Blunt had said that a corpse was synonymous of putrefaction, but she did not see any putrid in it. It was as if thanks to the wonderful performance of Krupal in, it this showed an almost beautiful aspect.

August Blunt invited them to take notes and to ask to him or to Krupal any doubt they may have about of what they had seen. The classroom filled with the sounds of papers being torn by pencils and pens while from time to time was heard the voice of one of the students. Sakura, who already seemed to feel better, was who asked the most, lifting up her hand to draw the attention of the two men as soon as the doubts assailed her head. Instead, Hinata only saw the corpse in front of her.

But she was not so distracted for not hearing the question that perhaps everyone had in their minds:

"Professor Randhawa", one of her classmate said. "Where do you work? Besides being a teacher, of course. It is that your work on the body was… simply wonderful."

"Thank you for your compliments", he answered.

Hinata perceived that the student blushed, and immediately he made a reverence in the teacher direction.

"I am a forensic", Krupal continued. "Yes, I know, everyone is going to look at me as if I were crazy. How can you work in something like this?!" The man laughed. "But when you study enough, as I did, you will see in a point of your careers that the human body is not synonymous of putrefaction, as our dear professor Blunt say."

The aforementioned grimaced.

"You will notice, rather", the man finished, "that it is a very beautiful machine. We were designed by nature to be perfect beings: we are intelligent, agile, with the capacity of doing with our world whatever we want, and death give us the opportunity to see closer this incredible machine. At least is what I believe, and I am sure you will see it someday."

His words were so positive and his way of talking so beautiful that everyone soaked with the magic that radiated Krupal, Hinata most of all.

When the class finished, Sakura, despite her insistence to go to take a rest before the next lesson, excused with her to ask her dear professor Blunt the coveted autograph. Hinata let her go, not before making her promise that she was going to rest after lunch. Soon were not in the classroom more than she and Krupal.

Hinata picked up her belongings, and came closer to him while he was finishing closing the bag that contained the corpse.

"I told you we were going to see again", the man said after finished his work.

The Hyuga, who had believed she had passed unnoticed by her companion, blushed.

"How did you know it? How did you know that I was going to be here?" she asked, very surprised.

Krupal smiled and scratched his head in a gesture which reminded her very much to Naruto.

"I read your name on the list of students of first grade yesterday", he answered, "and when you said to me your name, I recognized you immediately. You do not have a very common name, do you?"

Hinata smiled. Now she understood everything. Yesterday night Krupal certainly knew something she did not: that he was going to be his teacher.

"A mysterious and beautiful name for an even more mysterious and beautiful miss."

The young woman blushed from head to toe.

"Do you want to stop it?!" she demanded.

"What?" Krupal asked, seeing her confused.

Teacher and student had gone out the classroom, and now Hinata was following him through the Medical School halls while the man dragged before him the stretcher.

"To tell me how beautiful, according to you, I am!"

"It is not according to me. You are beautiful! I am surprised you do not see it. I can not help saying how beautiful you are because it is the true. As the lover of life that I am, most of all of women, I can recognize when I see a lady of your appearance."

Hinata blushed, frowning. She did not know why, but the man's comments about her physical beauty made her angry.

Krupal said to her with serious voice:

"Do you not think you are pretty, Hinata?"

The young woman raised her shoulders, not knowing what to say.

"Why do you doubt of yourself, beautiful?" Randhawa asked.

"It is not I doubt of myself!" Hinata exclaimed. "It is just… It is just… It is just that for so many years I have always heard the taunts directed against my appearance!" she finished with frustration.

"Well, the people who used to mock of you are fools", her companion reasoned. "Tell me, since you arrived to college, has anyone told anything about your aspect? Have not you caught the attention of any man?"

Hinata remembered what had happened when she had arrived to college, the way many men saw her, and then in the party, where her friends and even her enemies had praised her by her appearance, and she had to admit that Krupal was right.

"Do you see?" the man continued. "I do not know why you insist in to deny your beauty."

"Yes, but even though…" Hinata began to murmur. "This was not enough…"

"Give me a moment."

They had arrived to a kind of morgue. Krupal left her side (the place was restricted for teachers, so Hinata could not accompany him) and returned with her fifteen minutes later, shivering.

"How cold is in there!" he exclaimed, trembling from head to toe. "What we were talking about…? I remember! Look, Hinata, I do not know what you think of yourself, but you are beautiful. But it means nothing if I am the only one saying it. It is you, and no one more, who really have to believe it. When you trust it in here", he continued, putting a finger on her forehead, "you will see how everything change for you."

He came closer to her and, putting his warm hands in young woman's cheeks, kissed her forehead. Hinata closed the eyes, enjoying the gesture and the exquisite masculine fragrance of Krupal.

"You are beautiful, little one, do not doubt of it", he said.

Hinata saw directly his red eyes and smiled. In their two encounters Krupal had managed to get her out of her miserable state and made her feel happy, full of hopes and energies. Perhaps this man was her angel, which had come down to help her in her more tough time?

She was about to thank him when cries of concern made her feel uneasy:

"Sakura, Sakura! Please tell me what is happening with you!"

She immediately recognized Sasuke's voice.

Krupal and she saw themselves preoccupied, and soon the two of them ran in the direction of the voice. Sitting down in a bench, in the School outdoor terrace, Sakura was lying against the seat stone surface, while Sasuke, who was at her side, was calling her without she seemed to listen to him. The woman had a greenish aspect and a sick look. Definitely she was not feeling good.

"Sakura, Sakura!" Hinata called her this time, coming closer to her friend.

"Please, let me pass. I want to check her state", Krupal said.

Sasuke and Hinata moved aside to give way to the doctor.

"Well, let's see what you have", he said.

He took out a small flashlight from his pocket, with which he began to inspect her face. Hinata observed as he studied her turned off green eyes, the color of her tongue and the bad countenance that, in generally, she had.

"Yes, yes…" he murmured.

"What is happening to her?!" Sasuke demanded.

Krupal saw him as if it was the first time he noticed the presence of the Uchiha.

"Are you her…?"

"Boyfriend, I am her boyfriend! And I demand to know what is happening!" the dark-haired exclaimed, furious.

"Perhaps is she pregnant?" Hinata suggested.

Immediately Sasuke's face took a disturbing pallor. Hinata could swear Krupal saying between teeth: "Someone it is not using his protection!" in a cheerful tone, that made her blush, ashamed.

"No, she is not", Krupal said. "Did she drank or ate something heavy yesterday night or today morning?"

"Yes, she drank very much yesterday night", Sasuke informed.

"And she ate very quickly a lot of pancakes this morning", Hinata added.

"I see, I see", Randhawa murmured, nodding. "Well, that explains why she has so bad stomach ache. Binge drinking must be treated with care. She did not rest the enough."

He put one of his hands over Sakura's forehead.

"Luckily she does not have anything worse than a stomach ache. What we have to do is forcing her to throw up."

"To throw up?!" Sasuke cried out, back to angry.

"Yes, in that way she is going to feel better", Krupal answered undeterred by the Uchiha fury. "You", he continued, pointing out to Sasuke, "take her to my office. Inside is a bathroom, and we will need it soon."

Sasuke, reluctantly accepting, carried Sakura on his arms, and the three of them went to the professor's office.

Following his indications, Sasuke seated Sakura on a couch. Hinata came closer to her friend, gently stroking her face, while the professor revised some shelves, which were attached to the wall behind the desk.

"Here", he said, bringing with him a glass of water and a tablet. "I need her to drink this. It will make her to throw up."

He forced Sakura to drink the tablet with a sip of water. Then he guided her to the bathroom, near the toilet. Five seconds later the young woman was embracing it, as she began to throw up everything that was disturbing her stomach.

"That is, that is, throw it all away", Krupal said, stroking Sakura's back while she vomited.

As soon as it began, it finished. When Sakura came out of the bathroom, supported in the professor's arm, she did not have the greenish aspect of before.

After a gesture of Krupal, Sasuke made his girlfriend drink more water, while Hinata wetted a small towel in the sink, which she passed through her friend face, cleaning the remnants of the vomit.

Gradually Sakura regained her senses. She smiled to her boyfriend and friend with a tired smile.

"How do you feel now, miss Haruno?" Krupal asked, calling her attention to him.

Sakura nodded, thus indicating that she felt good.

"I am glad to know that!" the doctor exclaimed. "You have to take your binge drinking with more careful, miss."

"I never had drunk so much…" Sakura murmured.

"Yes, no one drinks enough until being in college" Krupal joked.

He and Sakura laughed, she hoarsely.

"I have some things to prescribe to you, miss Haruno, and your boyfriend would do well in ensure you will follow each one of my instructions."

Sasuke nodded, immediately accepting the responsibility.

"First, I want you to drink this", Randhawa began, giving the couple a plastic bag, in which it could be seen various bottles with a greenish liquid. "It is a homemade restorative, very effective. It will help you to regain strength quickly, miss."

The Uchiha took the bag.

"Then I need you to sleep all you can, at least what remains of the day", Krupal continued.

"But the classes…!" Sakura complained, but she was stopped immediately by the man.

"You need to rest, miss Haruno. I will apologize to professor Blunt in your name."

"But my autograph…!" the pink-haired exclaimed.

As he saw her surprised, Hinata hurried explain her fanaticism for August Blunt and her desire that he signed a very special scientific journal for Sakura, because in this was interviewed the doctor.

When Krupal promised her that he would do the possible so the doctor signed it, Sakura's eyes sparkled.

"Thank you very much", she exclaimed.

"It is nothing, miss Haruno. I will do it with pleasure if you follow my orders of going to rest."

The young woman nodded and, supported by Sasuke, she retired from the office.

"Do not forget to drink as much liquid as you can!" Randhawa said before the couple disappeared of view.

Hinata began to walk behind the pair, but a gesture from Krupal made her stop.

"Leave them alone", he said. "This is a good opportunity for a couple to become stronger, that one of them must take care of the other in its illness. Do not you think it is better to not ruin their time together?"

The young woman blushed, surprised the professor's loving side. Finally she nodded.

"Do you want a tea?" he offered.

"I would love it", she answered, smiling.

Krupal took out the kettle, which was inside one of the shelves, filled it with water and put it on a small gas stove, near the office window.

Hinata, meanwhile, had seated in one of the seats in front the desk, taking a look of everything that was on it. In the table were two portraits, one that had a sepia color photography, in which was posing an old woman with Indian aspect and what she thought was a young Krupal, and other in which the man was smiling to the cameraman.

"The lady of the photograph was my grandma", Krupal said, scaring her by the sudden manner he had spoken. "She was the most important woman in my life, more than my mother. I adored her. She died a month ago."

"I am sorry for your loss", Hinata said.

Krupal shook his head, making a fuss of his reddish hair.

An uncomfortable silence grew up between them. Then Hinata, taking by the first impression she had when she had met him, said:

"Can I ask you an indiscreet question?"

"Shoot it", Krupal said, taking a seat in his desk chair.

"Did anybody have called you the red-eyed monster?"

"Who?"

The man looked at her with such sincere expression of confusion that Hinata could not help to be surprised.

"Do not you have read about the red-eyed monster?" she asked, stunned. "The one who has murdered five young women in the most horrible ways? All newspapers talks about him!"

He looked at her confused for a while, but it was not until five minutes later that he exclaimed:

"Oh, yes! The demon!"

Hinata nodded.

"I am sorry, I hardly read the newspapers, sometimes they are very sensationalist", the man continued. "Yes, yes! Of course I have heard of him! For answer to your question, certainly, sometimes I have found people who saw me shocked and look at me with contempt, but when I show them the photograph of my adorable grandma their animosities against me disappear."

And then he showed her the picture of the same lady of the portrait, but this in color, and Hinata could see her adorable old face with a pair of red eyes as her grandson.

"You two look very similar", Hinata said, giving him back the photography. "You are very lucky that nobody confuse you with the killer."

"I, unlike him, have so many obligations for going there hunting young and innocents women", Krupal responded.

The kettle began to sound and the man stood up to attend the irritating call.

While taking out a pair of tea cups, Krupal said:

"Will you give me the opportunity to ask you now an indiscreet question?"

Since he had accepted answer her question, Hinata did not deny his petition.

"When we have met yesterday night I had the impression that something bad had happened to you. Am I too indiscreet if I ask what it was happening to you?"

As if a trunk suddenly had crashed her, Hinata felt hurt by the memory that question brought to her. She reviewed in her mind the image of Naruto and his girlfriend laughing and chatting, loving each other. The wounds of her heart opened again; and, in a desperate search to close them, she answered her companion question:

"All my life I have loved one person, and yesterday I… I found out he has a girlfriend…"

"Ouch!" Krupal exclaimed. "That must hurt! I am very sorry."

Hinata shook her head.

"Not so much now", she said. "Even though it hurt me when I remember it."

"I imagine it", Krupal said, putting a cup of tea in front of her. "Cream and sugar?"

The young woman nodded, and Krupal hastened to fulfill her order.

"Tell me, little one, what are you going to do now?"

Hinata looked at him confuse.

"What I am going to do now?" she asked.

"Yes!" Krupal exclaimed, sitting down. "You will not tell me that you are going to wait for your dear love until he will decide to see you as you see him… By the way, what is the name of your love one?"

"Naruto Uzumaki."

"Uzumaki?"

The Hyuga observed him surprised. She had seemed to hear an astonishment inflexion in Krupal's voice when he pronounced Uzumaki. Perhaps the man knew the family? She asked him about it, but he shook his head.

"No, no! It is the first time I hear about them", he said.

Hinata accepted his answer, but frowned. She still had the impression of having heard the amazement in her companion. But after some minutes she did not care about it, rejecting her idea to an ailment of her imagination.

"As I was telling you", Krupal continued, "what are your plans?"

"I do not know", Hinata answered, raising her shoulders. "I have loved him through so much time… I still love him…! It is not like I can forget Naruto so easily. He represents my whole life."

"I believe you are giving this Naruto too much liberty to do with your life whatever he wants."

She saw him, confused.

"What… what are you trying to say?" she murmured.

"I am just saying that if he represents your whole life, then you are giving him all the power to transform it in a pittance if he wants. Do not you think you are granting this Naruto too much power? Do not you think the one who has to conduct your life it is you?"

Hinata saw him even more perplexed.

"What I want to say, little one, is that you must expand your horizon, to not cling to a relationship that maybe is not going to finish in anything. Instead of wasting your life with a person that perhaps will never love you, maybe you should find some other fishes in the ocean."

"Are you trying to say that I must have other relationships?!" Hinata exclaimed, feeling warm.

Krupal raised his shoulders.

"Maybe", he said.

"But I never…! But I never…!"

"But you should, Hinata, or your life will wither. And I do not want that for you. You are very beautiful to waste your life with somebody that does not love you more than as a friend. You are in the prime of your youth! Live your life, beautiful! Or life will pass over you, as your Naruto."

Krupal's words were hard, but the truth. She saw her tea cup, as if in the liquid had the courage she was going to need to move forward.

She drank the tea and then stood up. She had much to do.

"Thank you for the tea", she said, walking to the door.

"Are you angry with me?" the man asked her before she went out the office.

Hinata smiled, shaking her head.

"How could I?" she asked. "You have saved my friend and me also, in many ways you do not know. Thank you very much."

Krupal smiled to her, and his eyes sparkled in a special way that made her feel reinvigorated.

"By the way, I will give you back your jacket tomorrow. Maybe then you can exchange it with the August Blunt's autograph for Sakura", she said.

Krupal smiled again, this time with a mischievous smile, which let see his white teeth.

"We have a deal, little blackmailer."

And Hinata went out, smiling, while a comforting pink color took over her cheeks.

* * *

Five weeks after that crazy first day of class, Hinata had become accustomed to the complicate university life. She did not blushed nor felt embarrassed when she was observed by men, she had memorized the path between her residence to the Medical School, and even she had found certain interesting areas (such as the college enormous library or a tennis court, sport by which the Hyuga had special interest) that she could visit when her obligations were not too heavy.

The life of a medicine student was frenetic, as she soon discovered. She loved the classes and she liked to learn as much as she could of a career she wanted to exercise in the future, but August Blunt was a demanding and sometimes wicked teacher. The next day of the inauguration of the first grade of medicine, he had drowned his students under a pile of books, and they were followed by overwhelming challenges and surprises exams every week. He explained, while he subjected them to such torture, that a doctor always lived under pressure and did not question how much work he had over his shoulders because he knew he could do it. Hinata, even though she had to admit that the professor was right, felt like most of the time she was going to faint fulfilling all the assigned works; and even Sakura, who loved Blunt, asked herself if that man did not want to kill them all.

"This is much work!" she cried out the first weekend since the beginning of college.

But Hinata had to fight with something even heavier, something Sakura should not face, and that was her feelings for Naruto. Even though she was trying to overcome the blond new sentimental situation, the true was that it was resulting to her more difficult than she thought.

Hinata could not take off Naruto of her world as if he meant nothing to her. After all she and the blond were friends since children; and they had a lot of common friends. Even though Vanessa's presence in their circle of friends hurt her deeply, even though Sakura wanted to kill him every time she saw him with his girlfriend, she could not stop Naruto for approaching his lifelong friends or suddenly treated him as if he was not an important part of her life. Thus Hinata had shared bitter moments with the couple, feeling, while she observed them in the typical behavior of a pair, as her chest was stabbed by thousand knives.

Besides Vanessa insisted in being her friend, and even though Hinata had wanted to reject her and send her to hell, her personality prevented her to do so. She talked with her as if they were big friends and knew each other for years, enduring with fortitude when the conversation was about their blond friend, while inside her she cursed the other woman and wished to her the seven plagues of Egypt.

But among the oppression that caused her student obligation and the stabbing pain that produced her to be part of how the relationship between Vanessa and Naruto was getting stronger every day, there was a ray of hope, and that hope carried the name of Krupal Randhawa.

It looked like since the night they had met their destinies began to intertwine because since then Krupal had become the most important person in her university life.

While at first they had been initial steps, now the friendly relation between her and the professor was increasingly stable. Krupal did not only have not stopped saying to her how beautiful he considered her every time he could, but also he had become her shoulder to cry. Hinata had discovered the facility with which the words came out of her in the man's presence and the sense of security which gave her to entrust to him.

And it was not only her who liked Krupal. Sakura, for example, had been captivated when the next day to their first encounter - after he saved her from the stomach ache and maybe helped her that her relationship with Sasuke strengthen even more - he gave back to her the magazine with the promised autograph of August Blunt. Hinata had observed her jumping all over Randhawa's office, where the exchange was made, thanking infinitely the man for his gesture.

Not only Sakura had benefited from his services, but the whole class. Where August Blunt was the forcer, which who with his whip kept sodomized all his students, Krupal Randhawa was who freed them from the shackles and helped them heal. In one way or another all the students of the first grade of medicine had been helped by the man, either was in their homework or in bear the heavy burden of being professor Blunt's student. Both Sakura and she had come to his aid more than once, finding in the man a balm for their concerns.

But what impressed Hinata the most was when, in the third week of the month, the same girls who had been expelled from Blunt's class for threw up before the corpse presented by Krupal, that looked like they had no more worries than being pretty and conquer as many handsome men as they could, came to the man to plead for his help.

"My father is a doctor", one of them said with desperate voice. "He wants me to study medicine…"

"But do you really want to study this career?" Krupal asked. "Because if you do not want it, I can not do anything for you."

"Yes! Yes, we want!" the young women stated.

"Then why do you felt indisposed when I opened the body in front of you?"

The group began to babble, without saying anything specific. Hinata, who was in the teacher's office when they had entered to see him, could hear: "It gave us disgust", and "We were not prepared".

Krupal, who must had listened the same as her, sighed wearily.

"Tell me, my dear girls, why do you want to study medicine?" he asked.

"For the money?" one of them said.

"Aside for the money", Randhawa replied.

"To know handsome doctors as you?"

The answer made Krupal smile in a mocking way, and the young women and Hinata felt like their cheeks became red.

"Aside to know handsome doctors as me", the man continued.

"Because we want to save lives", one of the group affirmed.

The teacher smiled again, looking at them sweetly.

"That is the answer I was waiting for."

So he decided to help the girls, but with one condition: they had to pass the fire proof. If they could not contain their nauseas in front of a corpse, how could he intervene by them before August Blunt?

During the next two weeks Krupal had requested a permission to use one of the empty classrooms, forcing in there the young women to face their repulse and to get over the vision of a dissected body. The rumor about the particular classes taught by the professor had expanded all over the School, and what had begun as a group of five girls had become a whole class willing to learn.

When at the end of month Krupal had taken to professor Blunt the petition of allow the entry of the girls, as well to many first grade stragglers students that had been expelled that striking first day of class, he had gave his authorization reluctantly.

"You have them very spoiled", Hinata had heard him saying to his assistant, making him to smile.

But what Hinata liked the most was when Krupal put away his title as professor and behaved as a simple human. When the red-eyed man was not giving his wisdom in the classroom, the young woman could find him under the shadow of a tree, in one of the many rest areas that the university had. She always found him smoking absently, with his eyes fixed in a book.

At first Hinata had felt shy to interrupt his rest, but it was not long until she began to approach him, sitting down nearby him. The man had never bothered her presence; and when she came closer to him, he closed his book and stared at her until Hinata began to talk.

In that occasion happened the same.

It was six o'clock of the last weekend of the month, so the campus was relatively empty because most of the student had gone out to their respective favorite places to enjoy the evening. Without plans for herself, Hinata had decided to go to one of the many places where she before had saw Krupal. She found him without much effort. She sat down near the teacher, who, as ever, closed his book and stared at her.

Hinata felt a little nervous under the fix gaze of those red eyes, but she did not care. The man's presence made her feel in peace; besides, the night was beautiful. The sky was covered by blue and pink tones, while a fresh breeze rose up, stroking her face.

She was enjoying the contact of the element against her skin when Krupal asked:

"And?"

"And what?"

"What you thought about what I told you?"

Hinata saw him by some minutes before frowning. She knew very well what Krupal was talking about.

"I do not know. It is not like I can ask any man: 'Do you want to be my boyfriend?'"

"Certainly you can not", the man accepted.

"The truth is that I am not feeling confident. I never have had a boyfriend. The only thing I always have had is Naruto, and now Naruto can not reciprocate me."

"You must let go off his memory if you want to move forward, little one."

"I know, but it is difficult", she said with hurt look.

"I know, little one, I know", Krupal said, stroking her cheek.

Hinata closed her eyes, enjoying the caress. Krupal's hand felt so good over her cheek.

The minutes passed in complete silence. The wind attacked again her face, but this time Hinata felt cold, and she came closer to Krupal, until their bodies were only separated by few millimeters.

Krupal said:

"Then what are you thinking to do? I am talking about your life. It is that I do not accept the possibility that you are going to waste your youth, your whole life, for somebody that does not love you as you love him."

"I know!" Hinata cried out, starting to get angry.

It is was the first time she lost control over herself with Randhawa, and the few times she had done it in her twenty years old.

"Do you think I do not know it?!" she continued. "Do you think I want to go through this?! No! I wish I could get over what happened with Naruto, that it does not affect me that he has continued with his life without me! But I can not!"

Tears began to flow from her eyes. Krupal left aside his book to hug her, and Hinata buried her face in the man's strong chest, letting all her pain to go away in that healing tears.

While she cried she felt her companion's hand going up and down on her back in a comforting caress, and Hinata wished to stay like that forever.

"I am sorry, beautiful, I did not want to make you cry", the man said.

She accepted his apology; and when she felt better she separated from him and cleaned up her face. She let him to give her a kiss in the cheek, and she thanked the gesture, feeling more relieved.

"Forgive me to push you. I will not do it again", he promised.

Hinata shook her head.

"I know you do not do it with bad intentions", she said. "It is just the subject make me nervous. How do you know, when you see someone, that it is the right person for you? How can you judge whether to be with this or that person? I do not even know how a real kiss feel. If I let someone kiss me, how could I know if I like it?"

"If you let me I can show you", Krupal said.

Hinata saw him as if he had lost his mind; but when she was asking herself what he had wanted to say with his proposal, Krupal came close to her and joined his lips with hers. At first she did not know what to do, ashamed. She could not escape from her surprise: a teacher was kissing her! And it was her first kiss! But when Krupal began to move his mouth over her, mildly biting it, Hinata lost herself in his caress and she allowed herself into the situation.

At first the kiss was slow, innocent, chaste, but while the seconds passed they began to kiss with more passion. Hinata's arm surrounded the man's neck, tangling her fingers in his reddish hair, while Krupal's hands went down to her waist, pulling her towards him.

When their tongues came into action, Hinata saw stars. Why no one had told her before that a kiss felt so good? The way Krupal kissed her left her wanting more, but soon their lungs demanded their oxygen and they separated. They stayed close to each other for several minutes, sharing the same air and brushing their lips.

Hinata had closed the eyes during all that time, not daring to open them for the fear of discovering that everything that had happened was just a dream. But when she heard Krupal's voice near her ear, she knew, excited, that the kiss really had happened:

"I believe a real kiss feel something like this."

The young woman blushed.

When, hours later, she returned to her residence, a resolution was formed inside her. Inside were Sakura and Ino, which the latter had invited them the dinner.

"I want a boyfriend", she said to her two friends as soon as she entered.

Sakura dropped the fork she had in her hand, looking at her surprised. Ino, more enthusiastic, applauded.

"It sounds excellent", she said with good humor.

* * *

The second chapter is here. I hope you like it. If that so please take some minutes of your time to leave me a review, I will appreciate it. Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter III

**The red-eyed monster**

 _A series of murders against young and innocent's women put in check the police and the society. Without clues or any links to lead the police to the whereabouts of this cruel monster, can Hinata Hyuga be saved in time before her name join the list of the victims of the so call red-eyed demon?_

 **Disclaimer:** Naruto and its characters don't belong to me, but Masashi Kishimoto.

Sorry for my english, it's the first time I write in english. I beg your pardon for my grammar errors.

* * *

 **Chapter III**

Sakura and Ino were friends since several years, and they shared many opinions and desires in common. But their friendship did not exempt them to sometimes disagree, and even fight against each other if their animosity grew out of control.

When Hinata told her friends about her desire to have a boyfriend, the opinions of the two women were through two different paths. Sakura did not take very well the confession, and did not wait to reprove her decision. Had she lost her mind? Did she really believe college was the most suitable place to find a lover? Besides, where had been her promise of a month ago that she would wait for Naruto even though she had to wait for him all her life?

Ino, meanwhile, was more enthusiastic, commending her for, according to her, be out at last of her shell. Of course she did not think the same as Sakura: what was that of her obligation to wait for Naruto? Was it that Hinata should accept to be a spinster all her life, waiting until their blond friend deigned to see her? The brunette had all the right to know love, and she would help her even though she had to step in front of her pink-haired friend.

And then they began to fight. Sakura and Ino threw themselves poison darts in form of words against each other, the blonde one claiming Sakura that she did not want to see Hinata happy, that she wanted to obligate her to wait for a relation that she knew very well it was not going to happen soon, while the pink-haired defended herself, saying that what she only wanted was the best for the Hyuga, and the best for her had the name of Naruto Uzumaki.

Hinata tried to calm them down without much success. It would have been better to keep quiet.

She felt hurt, but at the same time moved by Sakura arguments. She was hurt because she believed her friend would support her unabashedly, that she would understand that she deserved something better than to wait, as Ino said, until Naruto saw her in the same way she saw him; but also she was touched because her pink hair friend wanted to keep her away of the hazards of opening her heart to some strange, and in the same way to maintain ignited the flame of love that for so long she had inside her for the Uzumaki.

But the young woman did not dare to confess to her two friends that the real motive that drove her to the decision that she had made was the stolen kiss that Krupal had gave to her. If she closed the eyes she could still felt the tickling sensation that the man's lips had left in her, making her blush; and the only thing she wanted was to feel again that emotion, without putting at risk her friendship with the professor.

Also the man's words had been recorded heavily in her heart. Until then she had not realized how right Krupal was. If someone had to conduct her life it was to be her, not Naruto. It was to be her who had to take control over her own destiny; and in this way, inspired by what Randhawa had said to her, she said to Sakura:

"I know that you fear for me, and I appreciate your preoccupation; but it is time, as Ino said, to get out of my shell. Will I have to wait until Naruto loves me as I love him? It could happen years until that will happen, and I do not want that my life wring out of my hands without I can enjoy it. That does not mean I am going to stop loving him", she continued, catching up what Sakura was going to say.

"And what if he breaks up with his girlfriend?" Sakura asked. "What will you do if he ends up with Vanessa and you are in a relationship?"

"It will be the perfect vengeance!" Ino answered for Hinata. "And in that way he will see what he is losing! And it will be his turn to suffer!"

For a brief moment Sakura and Ino agreed, nodding both with their heads after the words of the blonde one: certainly, Naruto deserved the punishment.

"Besides", Hinata continued, "do you really think they are going to break up? You have seen them, Sakura. They seem very much in love, and I do not think they are going to end up soon. Do you consider that is fair that I have to wait for him? Do you not think that I have the right to fall in love, as Naruto did?"

It looked like she had said the correct words, because Sakura, against her, accepted that she was right. After all the Haruno professed a great sympathy for the Hyuga, and she only wanted what was the best for her.

The young woman was happy. Feeling supported by her friends, she felt ready for the adventure in front of her; but in the same moment she unfurled her wings and prepared to fly, Sakura's next question sent her directly to the floor:

"And if the person whom you are dating wants to have sex with you?"

It was not a surprise for any of the three that Hinata, at her twenties, was still virgin. Waiting, as she had done, for her true love, the Hyuga never had had a lover; and in her imagination, still childish, Hinata dreamed that she would give her "treasure" to her beloved blond. But now that she was opening breezed into the world of love the possibility to end with a man in the bed was very likely.

The true was that Hinata had not thought in those details. Her search only limited to someone who would kiss her as Krupal, that would make her feel the same sensation that the man had made her feel, but from that point to have a sexual relation with that unknown person was a very long way, and Hinata was not sure to be ready to face something as that eventuality.

When she went to her room, with an apprehension expression in the face and without answering to Sakura's question, she could hear Ino saying to her friend:

"You have scared her!"

"Someone had to tell her. Besides, maybe in this way she will not insist in that of having a boyfriend."

The night was heavy and long for Hinata, full of nightmares, in which terrified she tried to escape for many men with their love propositions. When she left the bed the next morning she was haggard, had a sickly look, and a growing sensation to vomit, that attacked her every second.

That was an excellent moment for desist of her searched, she thought. After all it was not the first time that she had regretted of a made decision, and it had become a common behavior in her to retire when the matter she had between hands got out of control. Why not did it this time? She still did not have a boyfriend, still did not know how felt being in love with someone and this someone loved her in the same way, so the damage was not done. It was not too late!

But if in one hand the idea of withdrawal calmed her, on the other hand it made her feel indisposed. When was she going to stop being a coward and go for what she had the right to have? As she had said to Sakura, she had the right to be loved, even though the person who loved her was not Naruto. Certainly the possibility to take a step away before the damage was done was attractive, but a part of her was tired of that Hinata who preferred to give up and prohibited her of what she wanted because of the fear of the unknown.

Maybe she was not prepared, maybe she was scared, but sometime she had to get out of the childhood shelter and enter fully in the world of be an adult, and that implied, even though the shame that the idea gave her, lay with someone; and since Krupal was the culprit of implanting the seed of rebellion in her heart, she was in all her right – and obligation – to resort to the teacher in such sensible subject. After all he was the perpetrator of her wish.

Krupal had placed in her head the worm of rebellion. He was who had showed her that her life should not turn around Naruto. He was who had kissed her with the excuse of to illustrate her how felt a real kiss. For that reasons she took the resolution to go to the professor's help as soon as the circumstances allow it.

What had happened weeks ago had turned the professor a very popular man in the Medical School, and it was not surprising to see him surrounded by people, most of all of the five young women which he had helped returned to class after Blunt's expulsion. Hinata had found very difficult to get closer to Randhawa because of his popularity, but she knew that after class Krupal liked to lock himself in his office before heading to wherever he rest. As she supposed, she located the teacher there.

She found Krupal in front of his desk. On the table was a travel bag, which the man was filling absently. When Hinata gave slightest taps to the door, to announce her presence, he quickly looked up, seeing her with a cold seriousness. It was like he had not realized it was her at the beginning because moments later his expression softened, and he smiled to her.

He said to her:

"You can pass."

Hinata did not wait to come in. She entered in the office, took a seat behind the desk, and when Krupal offered her a cup of tea she gladly accepted. When he asked the reason behind the honor of her visit, while he filled the teapot with water, she said:

"I want to talk to you… about something important…"

Krupal put the teapot in the heat of the stove, came closer to the desk, put the bag on it in the floor, nearby the table, and, once accommodated in his own seat, asked:

"How can I help you?"

"When we talked yesterday about the possibility of me to find a boyfriend… well, we did not talk about an important topic…" Hinata answered, feeling ashamed.

"And what can it be?" Krupal asked, interlacing his fingers while supporting his arms on the desk, leaning against her, interested.

"About… well… I…"

It was not an easy conversation topic for Hinata. She never had talked openly about sex with anybody, and to begin to do it now, and with a man, made her felt extremely nervous.

Krupal, gentlemanly as he had been with her, gave her enough time to continue.

At last Hinata, amassing a great amount of strength inside her, said:

"We do not talk about sex…"

The look which the man directed to her after those words was charged with so surprise that Hinata could have sworn that in one moment or another his eyes would come out of its orbits. Not even the furious called of the teapot, announcing that the water inside it was already hot, made him change his expression.

"What do you want to talk about sex?" he asked at last, some minutes later, hoarsely.

"It is not like I want to talk about… it!" Hinata answered. "It is just that…"

And then she proceeded to tell with great detail about the conversation she had had last night with Sakura and Ino, the question that the first one had asked her about what was she going to do if the man which she was dating wanted to establish a sexual relation with her, and the nervousness that possibility had caused her. After all – she continued, with her face red as a tomato – she was still virgin, and she had not even think, when she had talked with Krupal about the prospect to begin a love relationship, that she had to have sex with someone.

Meanwhile she was explaining all this, Randhawa had risen from his chair and had gone to the gas kitchen to attend the teapot claim. He poured the tea; and in the same moment Hinata stopped talking, he put in front of her a steaming cup with the promised beverage.

"I see, I see", the man mumbled, while he sat down again. "Do you have at least a notion of what represent to be with someone?"

The peal-eyed girl almost choked with her tea. The question brought to her mind a memory of two years ago, when Hanabi, making one of her typical pranks, sent her a video of a couple in the middle of having sex under an innocent façade. Hinata could not remove that image from her mind for a long time; while she had to support her young sister teasing.

She nodded with the head.

"Very well, that simplifies the things", the man said. "You will see, little one…" he continued, leaning forward, "I am the worst person to explain to you what is going to happen when you sleep with someone."

He smiled, scratching his head in that way that made her to remember Naruto.

"But what I can tell you, without the fear of saying something confused, it is that any explanation I can give to you will not help. You will only understand it when the opportunity arises. It is something physical, more than of comprehension; and when the moment come on to you to kiss and to caress the person you have elected, your body will know. I can see is difficult to understand, but when the occasion arrive you will comprehend it."

Hinata blushed. Krupal had had a way to explain him that had awakened something unknown in her, a slight tingling sensation that grew up in the upper region of her legs.

"If it what you fear is that someone force you", Krupal continued, "there is always the resource of the kick in the crotch. It is very effective!"

Both of them laughed.

"And what if I can not find someone convenient to me?" Hinata asked, translating into that question what remained of her doubts.

"Finding someone convenient to love is like going to fishing, and, as I said to you, my dear, the sea is full of fishes. But if one chooses the correct bait and waits the enough time the probability of to catch the fish one wants is very high. You have everything: you are beautiful, smart and have a pleasant personality. You will notice for yourself who is the one that is correct and who is not; and you can always put a hand in the resource of the kiss I gave you, it might help you."

Hinata blushed at the memory of the kiss.

"But above all you do not have to be afraid. You will get many hits against the wall before finding what you want, but you will, I promise you, and you will be happy."

Krupal's words reached her heart again. Be happy? She had never been entirely, thinking that happiness was not a goal she had the right to attain. Because of that she broke from inside, and from her eyes tears began to fall. Randhawa saved the distances and, when he was near her, he embraced her. Hinata sank into his chest, letting the emotions that bubbled inside her to go out slowly.

When the tears stopped to well up, the man offered her a tissue and Hinata cleaned her face. Then they returned to their respective tea cups, drinking the beverage in silence. When the Hyuga ended hers she rose from the seat and proceeded to go out, but suddenly she saw again the travel bag, in which Krupal had been putting some things before her arrival.

She asked the man about it, and he responded:

"I have to go out for a few days. My other job needs my presence. According to my coworker 'the corpses are accumulating'. Do not put that face, little one!" he added, realizing the sad expression Hinata had drawn in her face. "I will not go too long."

"I can not stop be sad when you are abandoning me when I need you the most", the young woman moaned, crossing arms and frowning.

"Come on, Hinata! I am sure you are going to have a boyfriend when I return. Do not worry!"

The man laughed, but as she had not changed her expression, he said:

"I will not leave you alone. I will be back to celebrate your good fortune or to fix the broken pieces of your heart if things go wrong."

The young woman blushed again.

At the end she smiled, and after embracing Krupal again, she left the office.

When she returned that night to her residence the resolution had returned to her with all its strength. She would find someone who would love her in the same way she would love that unknown person! She confessed her renovated desire to Sakura, without this time, despite all the attempts of the pink-haired to show to her the ill-conceived of her idea, Hinata faltered.

"If that is what you really want, I will support you", Sakura said at last, defeated. "But promise me one thing, Hinata: when you meet someone you have to present him to me. If I do not approve him, you will not be with him."

And she accompanied her words with two strong knocks against the palm of her hand.

Hinata, feeling bad for who decided to be with her, accepted her friend's petition.

Then it was the turn of Ino of hearing the news. After commending her for once again showing her courage, she said she was going to help Hinata with what she knew more: fashion. The Hyuga was beautiful; but about her clothe style, well… Ino did not agree with it at all. If she wanted to conquer a boyfriend she would have to see fresh, striking, and she would help her.

"Tomorrow after classes we will go out to buy you clothes, makeup, and everything necessary. Of course you are going to allow me choose everything; you have to trust me, darling! You will look gorgeous! We also need a new hairstyle for you…"

"Do you not think she is taking this with more excitement than I?" Hinata asked Sakura, feeling uncomfortable.

Sakura smiled, at the same time that Ino clapped her hands together, bringing the attention of the dark-haired.

"Let's go! We do not have time to lose!" the blonde exclaimed with excited tone of voice.

* * *

Since long time Hinata had learned that the relation between what one thinks and what really happen was almost zero.

When she had arrived in the university she had felt on her the look of many men, and the incident had extended through the following weeks since her stay in the college. Because of this she had thought, without committing a sin of pride, that the task of finding a lover would not be too heavy.

But after three weeks of submitted to Ino's plans, of assisting, under the instructions of her blonde friend, to numerous parties, of wearing a style of clothes very uncomfortable to her – with the objective, according to the young Yamanaka, to attract men -, Hinata had failed to achieve her mission; and, as she had realized, one thing was entice the look of males and other very different that those wanted to be in a stable relationship with her.

Certainly Ino's plans had helped her to look more attractive and being even more striking of what was she, but even though she had aroused the interest of various men, until then she had failed to bring the attraction to a more concrete state; and while the time went by Hinata had begun to ask herself if she was not the true culprit of her failure.

Maybe was she too irritating? Maybe was she too annoying? She did not know. Until now she had tried to behave the best she could, being nice and looking interested, without appearing been desperate, but until then everything had reduced to promises of to be call without never receiving a call and offers that she was going to see the person for the next day to end up losing even the slightest trace of the man.

Ino had asked her to be patient, that it was a normal thing that this happen, but Hinata was beginning to get tired. Maybe Sakura was right: college was not the best place to establish a stable relationship. Maybe it was time to throw the towel.

She did not only want to give up because she was tired of looking for a boyfriend without luck. To her evening activities she had to add the fatigue of the day, more than anything being a medicine student. Because there was no one to control his sadism, professor Blunt had shed over his students all his evilness, making them work harder and with delivery days more and more extreme; achieving that his students wondered themselves pleadingly when Krupal was going to be back.

She especially lacked the presence of the man. Since the last time she had talked with him, Hinata had not any signs of the professor. He had said to her that his absence, to attend his work as a forensic, would be matter of days, but after three weeks he had not returned, and the young woman missed him immensely.

She believed no one than Krupal could give her the strength to carry on. She missed the man's company, who she knew would listen to her without judging and would provide her support.

But the red-eyed man was not there, and Hinata had to defend herself, while fighting with the strongest conviction of desisting.

However, when Ino begged her to wait until the end of the month, two more weeks, the young woman accepted wearily. In the end, if she had decided to start the path of love, would it be too tiresome for her to wait some days for a satisfactory result?

So she waited, continuing with her schedule of parties, putting her best to success, but nothing changed.

But when the month had arrived to its end, and the autumn cold was every day more intense, Hinata's patience paid off, and in a way that looked unsurpassable.

She was about to retire to what was going to be the last party she was going to attend when she heard behind her a man's voice:

"Are you leaving so soon?"

Hinata, who until then only had had social interaction with her friends, jumped on herself because of the scare that had produced in her the sudden appearance of the voice.

"It would be a shame if you do so", the man continued. "The party would not be the same without the presence of a woman as beautiful as you. What is your name?"

"My name is Hinata", the pearl-eyed girl answered, blushing at the man's cajolery.

"My name is Patrick", he said, smiling to her. "Would you like to go to a quieter place? I swear it is only to talk!"

The young man laughed, and Hinata soon joined his laughing. She accepted his proposition, and both of them went to one of the many green areas of college.

Hinata soon liked Patrick. He was likeable, jovial, with a good humor that resulted attractive. She enjoyed his Irish accent, the way he moved his hands while talking and the exaggerated of some of his words. She learned that the man had twenty-four years old, that he studied third grade of Economy, which he came from a wealthy family, and that had certain popularity in college.

In respect of his physical appearance, he had a very Irish aspect, with red hair, a pair of green eyes and white skin. He was tall and had a strong look. In the way he looked it was an impish expression, as if he was preparing to make a prank, which conferred him an attractive appearance. Definitely he was very handsome.

The Hyuga was not far behind with the confessions; and when she told Patrick her last name, he looked impressed.

"Well, well! It looks like we are predestined", the man said. "We both are from important families. Can you imagine how powerful we are going to be as a couple? It will be awesome!"

As a couple? Hinata had not thought until then in that possibility, but in the moment that words marched past her eyes she felt increasingly convinced of the idea. Maybe Patrick was what she was looking for, maybe he was the man who could help her forget the hurting feeling which had produced her to know that Naruto had a girlfriend, and maybe he even could make possible for her to surpass the blond. But she had learned very well from her former experiences, and she did not want to rush blindly to what Patrick promised. If he exceeded certain tests perhaps it could be a future between the two.

But when Patrick called her the next day after their first encounter, and she continued seeing him, beginning to be with him in short, but rewarding dates, Hinata had begun to convince herself that destiny was bringing them together. When, some days after they began to date, they had their first kiss the young woman failed to feel in her lips the same sensation that Krupal's kiss had left in them, but it was not bad at all.

She presented Patrick to Sakura and Ino. The blonde one was delighted with the man, and she wished to the newly formed couple the best of the lucks. Sakura, to be not less, made the same; but when she was alone with Hinata, she said to her:

"I do not want to ruin your happiness. He is the first man that you are dating, and I know everything you have been through to have this, but please be careful. It not finishes convincing me this Patrick."

"I will", she promised.

Hinata did not know in that moment how futile her promise was.

The best moment for the young woman was when it arrived the opportunity for Patrick for knowing the rest of her friends. In spite of the surprise, because much of them were still expecting to see her with Naruto, the man had been received inside her circle of friends with joy, congratulating the couple for their recent union.

The peal-eyed girl felt even happier when she saw the way Vanessa was observing her, as if she could not believe her luck. She felt very well especially by the bitter memory of what had happened during Naruto's birthday, a week ago, in which she had behaved in a rather disparagingly manner, as if she wanted that she remembered who was the one that had the Uzumaki's attention.

Her beloved blond congratulated her for her relationship.

When he hugged her, Hinata did not blushed, as it used to happen when she was nearby the Uzumaki; but when Naruto emphasized that now both were happy with the persons they had chosen to love, the Hyuga could not help but think that it would have been preferable if the one who loved her was he.

The only thing she regretted was Krupal absence, who still had not returned to the university. She was waiting eagerly the man's return to thank him for making her opened her eyes, to give her the hope that she could have a better future, but especially to tell him the good news of her engagement. If it was not for the man, who had pushed her beyond the limits of the comfort, she would have never known Patrick, and would continue waiting for a glimmer of hope that would put her closer to Naruto. Krupal had made her happiness possible.

While she was waiting the professor's return, her relation with Patrick was getting stronger. As if he wanted to show her that he really came from a wealthy family, the man had gifted her a pair of earrings, with the most beautiful sapphires Hinata had ever seen. He had taken her to expensive restaurants for dinner, had accompanied her to the best cinemas and had invited her to the most exclusive parties in college; and even though she was not of that kind of person that dazzles by the wealth, she could not deny that she felt like a princess treated in that way.

Patrick truly was good for her, and everything seemed to be smooth with them; but such happiness was not destined to last forever.

Hinata knew that sometime this was going to happen, that it would arrive the moment for her to divest herself of her shyness and begin a sexual relation with the person who she would have chosen to be her lover, but when after four weeks of dating Patrick he wanted to have sex with her, the young woman knew she still was not ready.

She tried to reason with the man, but Patrick seemed unwilling to receive a "no" for an answer. What had begun as loving caresses soon turned into struggles; and even though she begged, her companion did not want to listen. But Krupal had advised her well. She knew what she had to do to stop the harassment. In the moment Patrick was coming closer to her, Hinata gave him a strong kick in the crotch, and quickly moved away from the man.

But, true to her good nature, she soon worried for her companion. Maybe she had been quite rough in the kick, leaving the man injured; but in the moment she had put a foot in front of her, Patrick directed to her a fury look. With his red hairs standing up in the air and his green eyes glittering, as if he had poison inside them, he promised:

"You will regret this, bitch!"

Hinata did not wait too long to get out of there.

That was the last time she saw Patrick. Even though the man knew where her residence was and what career she was studying, the young woman did not see again his red hair, and mentally thanked it. She had enough with her grief and the shame to almost be raped to add to it the stress of be pursued by the man.

What had happened that night she did not tell anybody, neither Sakura. She preferred to keep the painful feelings for herself; and when she was asked about what had happened with her relation with Patrick, she said calmly that they had had irreconcilable differences.

It was preferable to lie than to tell the truth. She could imagine in her mind very well all the fuss that would have caused between her friends to know the real reason why she had broken up with her first boyfriend. Surely Patrick would be subjected to all class of punishments, without taking in consideration the beating Sakura would give him. No, the best thing she could do was to keep quiet, and forget everything that had happened focusing more than ever in her studies.

She did so. Thanked to the pass of the time and the fatigue, that had caused her the focus on her studies, the pain was softened gradually, and Patrick soon transformed into a shadow in her memory. The only break she allowed was when Krupal returned to college. It was impossible for her to not tell the professor the details of her first engagement; and when the man realized how everything had ended, Hinata cried profoundly while she was embraced by him.

"I am sorry. I am so sorry, little one", the man said while he allowed her to unburden of her pain in his chest. "I am the most culprit of your pain: I was who pushed you to this. But please", he continued, taking her cheeks between his hands, forcing her to lift the face, "do not close your heart to love. You are going to deal with a lot of pain if you follow this route, but you will see that at the end of all your suffering will end up in happiness."

Once more she admired the way Krupal had to cheer her up; but this time she did not agree with the teacher. She did not feel ready to begin again the path of love. She was still in love with someone who seemed that never would answer her feelings, and the only boyfriend she had had until then had tried to rape her. No, she had had enough with that of to open her heart to others.

But when some days later a young man, with a calm personality very similar to her, came closer to ask her if she wanted to drink a coffee with him, Hinata forgot her past experiences. This new man in her life made her feel happy, allowing her to hope that around the corner Destiny was going to smile to her once more.

But it had taken only a few days of happiness for her whole world to darken again. She did not know how everything had happened, or when everything had been produce, but when Sakura came to her with a worried look in her face she would have had to intuit that something was wrong.

"I want you can explain this to me. Really, really!, I want you to give me a coherent response of what is happening."

Those words of her friend should have to be enough for her to know that something was terribly wrong. But when Sakura showed her the image exhibited in the screen of her smartphone, Hinata knew that nothing in the world could have prepared her for the hit she was going to receive.

Published in the web page of a social networking extremely popular was a series of photographs of a group of young people having sex with each other. The images were very explicit, extremely graphics, but what impressed her the most was not that. Between the group was just one woman, and she had very similar physical aspects with Hinata. In fact if Hinata would have not known beforehand that the woman in the pictures was not her, she could have confused.

"I swear it is not me!" she exclaimed, feeling sick. "I swear it is not me!" she cried out once more, worried by the confused, but at the same time hurt by way Sakura was looking at her.

* * *

The third chapter is here. I hope you like it. If that so please take some minutes of your time to leave me a review, I will appreciate it. Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter IV

**The red-eyed monster**

 _A series of murders against young and innocent's women put in check the police and the society. Without clues or any links to lead the police to the whereabouts of this cruel monster, can Hinata Hyuga be saved in time before her name join the list of the victims of the so call red-eyed demon?_

 **Disclaimer:** Naruto and its characters don't belong to me, but Masashi Kishimoto.

Sorry for my english, it's the first time I write in english. I beg your pardon for my grammar errors.

* * *

 **Chapter IV**

Hinata had experienced many embarrassing moments in her life, most of them when she was a teenager, when feeling slighted was a common sensation in her day to day. She had thought that college was going to give her the perfect opportunity to put aside that painful past and appreciated herself, and be appreciated, by what she was, but that did not happen.

Never had she thought, even for a second, that after all her words of support, that she was going to put aside the shell of the shy Hinata to wear the mask of a stronger woman, that also in college the nightmare of being besieged, insulted and hurt would attack her again, and in the same way as it had happened during her high school years.

At the same moment that Sakura had showed to her those shocking pictures, she had knew that something terrible would happen because of them, but what had happened was worst of what she had imagined. As they were published in certain known social network, the photographs spread like powder through all the university. There was no one who did not have the graphic reproductions in their respective smartphones, so the images became viral; and since, and since, unlike the high school, the academy was bigger and most populated, the news echoed more than what she liked.

If until then Hinata's university life had been almost a paradise, in a few hours it had transformed in a total hell.

The short relationship she had had with her new boyfriend was the first thing that broke. The young woman had heard with the eyes full of tears his refusal of being in a relationship with a person as false as her (resolution he had taken after the matter with the photos became viral).

There was no place where the Hyuga could go without being insulted and abused by any person she found in her way. Go to class, return to her residence or visit the library were painful activities for the young woman; and even though she covered her ears and closed her eyes, she could not stop perceiving the lewd comments and the railleries directed against her.

"Hey, beautiful! I have a "friend" that want to play with you!"

"Anytime you like you can go to my room, baby doll, and we can have a little fun!"

The harassment was such oppressive that Hinata, who normally liked to study and acquire knowledge, seriously had begun to think to lock herself in her room and never more show her face in the campus.

But she had to admit that everything was very confusing. She knew that the one who was in the pictures having sex with that group of male was not her, but how could she really prove that if the woman in the photos looked so much like her? Even she was confused; and she found difficult to defend herself under such incriminating evidence.

The same confusion had taken over her friends. No one who really knew Hinata could seriously think that she was the one who was in the pictures, but still their convictions were not so strong to take her out of the threshold of doubts. The only people that truly supported her in those dark moments were Ino and Sakura, and this one had drawn Sasuke to the group of the convinced one of the innocence of the young woman. He had joined in the defense of the Hyuga more for blood issues than of being sure of her guiltlessness: for an Uchiha family was the most important thing, and it would be defended no matter the sin it had committed.

"We believe in you", Sakura said an afternoon after class, when the four of them were gathered in the residence Hinata shared with her friend.

Even though at the beginning Sakura had been surprised, even hurt, the first time she had seen the photographs, soon she had confessed that regardless how imposing the proofs were she was sure that Hinata was incapable of doing something like that (she knew her friend was not of that kind of person that like publicity; if Hinata had had sexual relations it was more than logical that she was not going to publish her intimacies in the internet).

"The important matter here is to demonstrate your innocence", Ino said. "Whoever did this to you really wanted to make you to suffer. Can you think of someone who wants to hurt you?"

Hinata could have brought to her mind in the past many names, the names of the people that had teased her without end in high school. But in college she had not won the enmity of anyone, at least she knew. Who could wish her bad?

The only person she could think was Patrick, and his promise that he would make her pay for not letting him have sex with her. But the remembrance of her ex-boyfriend brought the interest of her friends, so Hinata told against her the secret that until then she had kept so furiously locked in her heart. As expected, the tempers of the three that were listening to her grew up, especially Sakura, who, with her fists rose in the air, promised to make that damn Irish to pay for almost rape her friend.

It took a long time before Sakura's fury decreased. Sasuke was trying to calm her when Ino said:

"If we accept that this damn Patrick uploaded the photos to the net, we have to prove it. If we do it, we even can charge him for defamation."

"But how we will do it?" Hinata asked.

"Actually is pretty easy. We just have to look for the internet direction from where the photos were uploaded to the net and demonstrate it match with Patrick's direction", the blonde answered, as if what she was explaining were the most natural thing in the world.

"Are you talking about to hack or hire a hacker to do that?" Sasuke asked. "If that is what you are talking about, we have to do it within the biggest legal framework. If we go to the police with information taken by force they can put us in jail."

"And what do you suggest?" Ino asked.

Sasuke scratched his chin before answering, frowning with a reflective aspect.

"The first thing we have to do is to see a lawyer. Since I suppose you do not want that uncle Hiashi know about this", he said, looking at Hinata; she shook her head at such horrific possibility, "I suppose that my father would not mind if I hire the services of one of the lawyers of the family. Then we have to do what the lawyer says. Denounce this Patrick, or anyone who had uploaded the photographs, of defamation is a good idea, but if we do not advise well we could spoil everything."

The three women accepted that what the man had said was the most correct decision to follow.

"Also, we always can break the face of that Patrick. He will see what happen with the people that hurt my friends!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Later, darling, later", her boyfriend said in a comforting tone.

Hinata had begun to feel a glimmer of hope in all that despair; but what Sasuke confessed to her in that moment ignited a small flame in her heart:

"Naruto does not know anything about this. That silly does not even know how to use his smartphone; but it is better in this way, do not you think? I will make sure that he does not know what is happening."

"Thank you", the young woman said.

Knowing that Naruto was not still aware of the terrible things happening to her made her very happy. Even though Hinata had confidence in the judgment of the blond, it would be horrible if by the misconduct of someone her relation with the Uzumaki would get hurt.

Meanwhile, with her friends, she had begun to walk through the first steps to demonstrate her innocence, and in that way clean her name, Hinata discovered with horror how far had arrived the impact of the pictures when her younger sister contacted her. Hanabi, even though she was very impressed, entrusted immediately in the guiltlessness of her older sister, and promised her that she was going to put all of herself so Hiashi could not know what was happening. Hinata thanked her with her eyes full of tears, in one hand thankful with her relative for her support, and in the other for helping her to keep her father out of this. She had barely won the trust of her progenitor; the worst thing that could happen was that he to learn about the pictures, in spite of their falseness.

But Hinata did not only count with the support of Sakura, Ino, Sasuke and Hanabi. It would have been really heartbreaking to lose Krupal's confidence for such misdeed committed against her, but even though the man had learned the juicy rumor circulating the college without end, he believed firmly in Hinata's innocence.

He showed to her how much he trusted her an afternoon, during a class in which Hinata felt especially tired and sick, with the increasing sensation that she was going to pass out at any moment. While she was being assisted by Sakura, some seats ahead of her one of the woman of the group of Krupal's fan girls said with a mocking tone:

"I am sure she is tired of doing so much oral sex to so many men!"

Her words reverberated in the whole room, causing the gabble of ones and the laughs of others; but in the moment the classroom became a real hotbed, the onomatopoeia of a hit was heard everywhere. Krupal was standing in front of the desk of the woman who had talked and had crashed the palm of his hand against the surface in a fierce and resounding blow. His eyes were sparkling with anger; and everyone who saw him got scared.

"I want this to be the last time that someone says in this classroom comments such perverse as what was just heard! If I listen to you speaking in this manner again, I will tell the rector, do you understand?" he said to the woman, making her nod firmly, while she shook from head to toe. "And this goes for every one of you!" Krupal added, addressing to the rest of the classroom.

The entire classroom remained in the most resounding silence.

Then he came closer to Hinata.

"Are you okay?" he asked, while he put his hand in her forehead. "You have some fever. Do you not prefer to lie down in your room for a while? I can accompany you."

Hinata was reluctant at first: she did not want to leave the class.

"Do not worry, go", Sakura said to her. "After class, I am going to pass to you my notes."

Between the comforting words of Sakura and Krupal, after some seconds she decided to accept the man's invitation. While she picked up her belongings, Krupal informed professor Blunt about what was happening. Then he returned with Hinata to escort her out of the classroom; and no one, not even a single person, dared to show the slightest expression of amazement.

Hinata soon discovered with admiration and happiness that it was a clear advantage having the trust of the red-eyed man. It was just enough for Krupal to nail a furious look against anyone who ventured to say a dirty word to Hinata for that person to think twice before opening it mouth. For the first time since the matter of the photographs had begun, the young woman arrived to her residence without receiving a malicious comment against her.

Once in her residence, Hinata lay down in her bed by Krupal's instructions, closing the eyes with tiredness, but also with certain pleasure sensation while the man wet her face with a towel drenched with cold water. When he put the cloth over her head, the malaise of moments ago began to disappear slowly, but progressively.

But when she was feeling better, Krupal inquired her about what was happening, and a small amount of pain returned over her. Hinata hardly (because she feared losing the friendship of the teacher as soon as he knew the truth) told him what was going on. She was surprised upon learning that Krupal was in knowledge of what was happening more than what she had supposed.

"I heard about the photos and saw them", he said. "Really, anyone who believes that the woman in the pictures is you is crazy."

Hinata's eyes sparkled when she heard that Krupal firmly believed that the woman in the photographs was not her. Led by the curiosity, she asked him how he was so sure of her innocence, and he answered that by strong and logical reasons. First, he trusted in her account of the facts. She herself had said to him that Patrick and she had not had anything serious, as well with her last boyfriend. Second, the woman in the pictures never showed her eyes, covering them herself or hidden them by the physiognomy of her lovers. If the person who had wished her ruin really wanted to destroy her, he or she would have sought that there were no doubts about Hinata's identity. Why the woman that appeared in the photos covered the only thing that would link her definitely to Hinata?

"You have told me that it was a hereditary and unique trait in your family to have the eyes like you. That woman always covered her eyes. Why? Simply because if she had shown them it would be clear as water that you and she were two completely different persons."

She had to admit that Krupal was right; and she mentally registered the detail: it could be very useful to tell that to the lawyer Sasuke had promised to hire to help her clean her name.

"And what are you planning to do? In the case that really this Patrick, as you say, was the one who has ridden this circus", Krupal asked.

"Some friends and I realized that if really is him the one who is harming me we can charge him for defamation. Sasuke, do you remember him?, the boyfriend of my friend Sakura", Randhawa nodded. "He promised to hire one of the lawyers that works for his family. He said, and I agree with him, that we have to see the lawyer before following an action plan."

"That is a great idea. I will be also happy to help you in anything I can do. If you need my help, you just have to tell me."

Hinata thanked him for his desire of helping her.

A few days after this event, Sasuke informed her that the matter with the lawyer was ready. The head of the Uchiha family, his father, had suspiciously accepted the request of his son, who had tried keeping the most amount of detail aside for the sake of Hinata. He said that the lawyer wished to see her the next day.

The lawyer hired by the black-haired was as Hinata imagined: a human being intelligent and cold, who, as a raven in the dark, surely must been waiting patiently for his opportunity to help to get out of the mud to an Uchiha.

When the young woman informed him of what had happened, the man rose with the tip of one of his fingers the square glasses framing his shrewd eyes, and said:

"The idea of to electronically intervene in the account of this man is not a bad idea, but, as mister Uchiha pointed out, it must be done within a legal framework. Actually you can employ the services of hackers that work directly to the police and that are endorsed by them."

"I can handle it", Ino said.

"But it would be even more beneficial to obtain a confession from the subject", the lawyer continued. "If this man admits that it was him who has sought to defame miss Hyuga, it will serve more than any proof brought by a hacker."

"I will make him speak!" Sakura said, raising her fists.

"The confession must not be taken by force", the lawyer warned.

"Then, how can we obtain it?" Hinata asked.

"You can set a trap against him and record the exact moment in which he confesses his crime. I will make it to look as legal as possible before the judge."

Hinata thought that the lawyer had a spectacular cold blood; for what she knew about her Uchiha relatives, the man had absorbed very well the customs for which the powerful family was so recriminated.

"Once the proofs are gathered, I need that two of you, if you have twenty-one years old or more, to sign a letter ensuring that you trust and represent miss Hyuga faithfully. Miss Hyuga is still under-age, and opening a trial for an under-age is more difficult than for an adult."

Sakura and Sasuke pledged to it.

In the moment they were leaving the room where the reunion had taken place, Hinata remembered the conclusion that Krupal had made respect to the woman who was in the photos. She told it to the lawyer and he smiled with a sharp smile.

"That is an excellent point, miss Hyuga, and it will help you very much in your favor."

During the next days the four of them gathered to trace an action plan. Sasuke guaranteed to put how many money was needed. Ino had a friend whose father had an acquaintance who worked in the local police department, and who could help her to find a hacker approved by the police to make the dirty work. Meanwhile Sakura and she would take care of getting the confession from Patrick.

Hinata could not think any good excuse to come closer to her ex-boyfriend after everything that had happened between them. Her relationship with him had not finished in good terms; and even though she wanted to ask him the reason, if it was really him the culprit of what was happening, of his decision to ruin her life, she was not sure to want to see again Patrick.

Since the last time they had spoken with the lawyer, Sakura accompanied her everywhere with a recorder in her pocket. Her friend assumed that any time they could encounter Patrick, and when they did it she was going to be ready to record his confession. But the campus was a big place, and even though the redhead studied the same career of Sasuke and Ino, finding him was almost a feat. Hinata only had two or three chances to get a glimpse of him, but as soon as she turned around to tell Sakura about the sighting, he disappeared. How they could reach Patrick without him suspected he was being subject to a trap?

And suddenly Sakura had the best idea that her mind altered by the rage could elaborate. They would seek for Patrick with the excuse to give him an alleged beating for finding out that he had tried to rape Hinata, and she was going to give him such a fright that she was sure the words would come out of his mouth by their own. She had confessed that while bending her right arm, clenching her fist, making that the muscles of her arms were seen in a threatening way, and Hinata, despite her, felt little sorry for Patrick.

Carry on the plan took a few days, but when they finally found Patrick, Sakura turned on the recorder she had in her pocket and launched herself over the redhead in a threatening way. For more far-fetched than it seemed, the strategy worked out.

"You dirty damn Irish!" Sakura shouted out while grabbing Patrick by the shirt collar, shaking her fist in front of his face. "You are going to find out what happen to the people who mess with my friends!"

"Let me go, you bitch! I am going to incriminate you for violence! My family has money!" Patrick exclaimed with a frightened voice.

Hinata tried not to laugh from the hideout in which she was observing the scene. After everything Patrick had done to her, seeing him suffer was funny.

Sakura shook him without giving him rest, forcing Patrick to become every second more nervous. In the moment she mimicked nailing all the force of her fist against his face, he asked her to stop. He exclaimed that she could go to hell, that Hinata had deserved to be raped by him for being a bitch, and that he had done even more, making she looked as the whore she was with the help of some friends. When Sakura asked him what he had meant by that, he confessed that he had participated in the matter of the photographs: he had hired a prostitute to represent Hinata and took photos of her with his friends in different sexual position, and then that he had uploaded them to internet. Poor Patrick! He had confessed everything and without knowing that he was being recorded. The only thing that hindered the moment was when Sakura, in a real rage, hit his face hard, breaking his nose.

"He attacked me and I had to defend myself", Sakura said a few hours later when she, Patrick, Hinata and Sasuke were in the rector's office.

The university rector, a woman of early forties named Vivian Williams, observed Sakura as if she could not believe her foolishness.

"She is lying!" Patrick exclaimed, who had received emergency treatments in the college infirmary and now had an ugly plaster supporting his broken nose.

"Mister O'Beirne is from an important family", the rector said thickly, making honor to the comments that said that she praised highly the students from richest families over the others, and since Patrick met this requirements and Sakura did not it could be guess well enough to where the scales were leaning.

"Sakura is my girlfriend and I will not allow that this dirty whippersnapper, who has hurt her, continue harming her", Sasuke said with cold voice.

And Vivian Williams's balance of riches changed from direction as quickly as it had decided to support Patrick. The Uchiha family could control the whole world if they wanted, and the rector was that kind of woman who valued such power.

The main proof was ready. When the lawyer who was representing Hinata received the recording from the young women he looked very happy.

"We just need to make a few tweaks to make it look anything but aggressive. Let it in my hands", he continued, winking.

Hinata reinforced her opinion about him. That man was a lawyer without scruples.

Ino came with the rest of the proofs the next day. The harvesting had been successful: not only had the hacker she had hired found out that the IP direction from where the pictures had been published was the same of Patrick's computer (the idiot had uploaded the evidence, that would serve to incriminate him once they were exposed, from his own computer), but also had found the name of the woman who appeared in the photos, as well as the names of Patrick's friends who had helped him build the farce.

"This is excellent", the lawyer said while he studied the evidence Ino had gave him. "With this we have enough to build a good case for defamation and make mister O'Beirne to pay a good sum of money."

"I do not need the money, only that my name remain clean and the pictures that are circulating in the internet to be deleted", Hinata said.

"We will obtain everything you wish, miss Hyuga, but money is also important", the lawyer said. "At least you can donate it if you do not want to have it."

Hinata accepted the proposition.

"Give me some weeks to organize all this and we will begin the trial", the lawyer continued.

"If we win the case I will tell my father about your excellent job", Sasuke said, shaking hands with the man.

The lawyer retired; and for the first time since all that trouble had begun, Hinata felt the tranquility that the hope that everything was going to be fine produced.

The last months of the year poked their noses in the calendar, and the university had begun to cover with cold weather and the promise of the coming winter. Everything appeared to go back to normality. Hinata had a way to clean her name. People looked like they had forgotten about the scandal of the photographs, because she did not receive any obscene comment while she walked through the campus. Even she had recovered the happiness to focus on her studies; and when she reunited with Krupal in that very moment when she was so happy that he said to her with emotion:

"You look much better!"

Really Hinata felt very happy. She had survived the wave of horror that had attacked her life and she had done it unhurt. Could something bad occur now when everything was improving? She thought she had received enough grief, that she had tolerated her share of pain.

But she was terribly wrong.

One of the things that characterized Naruto was always being late to what was going on. Until then the blond Uzumaki had kept away from the social networks and had escaped unscathed of the obscene photographs, but either by causality or because someone had led him to make that decision, when everything looked good for Hinata, he found out the horrible reality which had been orchestrated against the Hyuga. And what he saw did not cause him the slightest dash of humor.

Everyone who knew him knew how annoying he could be upset. The Uzumaki's fury was famous in the world; and Sakura was the one who had to pay with it. One day, after the classes finished, Hinata had been away from her with the excuse to go to the bathroom, leaving the pink-haired alone. When Naruto approached her, there was not a person in the university that would not have heard the conversation – if that could be called a conversation – which the two had maintained.

"Can you explain what the hell this is?!" Naruto cried out, out of control, almost smashing against Sakura's face the screen of his smartphone.

At the beginning Sakura did not say anything, completely impressed.

"How…? How did you hear about it?" the woman asked, surprised.

"It is not important how I hear about this! What really important is that you tell me if this one who appear in the photos is Hinata or no!"

As the tempers of the Haruno had been tested for so many days, she resisted very badly the shouting of the blond. She answered, crying out too:

"Do you really think that she is Hinata?! You are a moron if you think like that! Someone made a trap and wanted to make see like the one who is in the photos was Hinata!"

"To me she looks a lot like her!"

"I always thought that this girl had a perverse side inside her", Vanessa added, Naruto's girlfriend, who, behind him, extolled everything her lover said nodding with her head.

"Respects Hinata, you damn bitch!" Sakura shouted.

"Do not insult Vanessa!" the Uzumaki demanded.

Hinata had come out of the bathroom in the same time Naruto and Sakura exchanged those words. Shy, she hid behind a wall, not sure to want to face the Uzumaki's rage. But no wall could protect her of the next comment the man would throw to the air:

"Maybe I was wrong to think that Hinata continued being the sweet girl I met in school! Now I realize that she is one of the heap, one of those whores you can find everywhere!"

The immediate second those words escaped from Naruto's mouth, Hinata's heart broke into million pieces. How he could? The love of her life had insulted her in a horrible way! The love of her life had hurt her with the most deadly knife nobody until then had stabbed in her chest! Why Naruto, among all the people, was the one who had done her more damage? She felt as a part of her had stopped existing.

While her face became full with bitter tears, through all the campus was heard the slap Sakura gave to Naruto. If it had not been for the intervention of Sasuke, the woman would have continued inflicting damage to the other man. She was in a rage, and writhed like a furious animal between her boyfriend's arms, at the same time she had a finger extended to Naruto and was insulting him:

"You will regret your words, you damn bastard! I thought you had brain, but I was wrong! You can go to the damn hell, Naruto, you and your stupid girlfriend! Do not ever come near me or Hinata! Do you understand, you moron?! Because if you do it, I will kill you, I swear I will do it!"

Hinata had her mind confused between so much pain, but one only thought was crossing through her brain with insistence: get out of there. Trying to pick up what little remained of her, she ran away as soul pursued by the devil, without seeing where she was going, without worrying about what the others would think watching her in that state.

Since she was running without seeing where she was going it was not a surprise that her steps took her to crash against someone, and the person with whom she had struck was nothing less than Krupal.

For the first time since she had met him Hinata felt ire against the man. If it was not for Krupal and his brilliant idea to encourage her to find a lover what had happened with Naruto would have never happened!

"This is your entire fault! This is your entire fault!" she exclaimed achy, desperate, striking with all the force of her fists the strong chest of the man.

At the beginning she had begun to hit hard, but then the frequency and the force of the blows she was directing against Krupal's chest were slowing, until moments later Hinata was hugging firmly his body, and began to cry desperate, wetting with her tears the man's shirt. Krupal sustained her alongside him, letting her cry.

Some minutes later Sakura came closer to her. Her face was completely red because of the rage. Hinata separate herself from Krupal to go to hug her friend.

"Did you have to hear it all, did you not?" Sakura said with preoccupation in her voice, while she caressed Hinata's hair in a heartwarming way.

"I am very sorry", Sasuke said, who was behind his girlfriend. "I did not know he had known the truth."

"Surely was that bitch of Vanessa who showed him everything", the pink-haired exclaimed.

"Can someone explain to me what is going on?" Krupal asked, bringing over him the attention of the couple.

Sakura promised him she was going to explain what was happening, but she preferred to do it in not such public place. She decided to tell the professor what had happened in the residence the two friends shared.

Hinata, either by the pain or for the tiredness that had caused her all the misfortunes she had experienced, had rested so strongly on Sakura's shoulder that she was about to reach the floor because of the weight. As much as they called her by her name, she did not respond to any call. Krupal offered to carry her. The man lifted her until she was resting in his strong arms, and Hinata, as reflexively, hugged his neck, surrounding it with her two hands. That was the last thing she remembered doing before she fell asleep.

During two weeks Hinata did not move from her room. Naruto had achieved with his awful words something that none of whom had despised her before had obtained: he had taken her will to live. By more than Sakura tried to take her out of her room, by more than Ino ordered her to remount again on the train of life, by more than Krupal sat down beside her and whispered words of support to her ear while caressing her hair, Hinata had lost all desire to move forward. Neither the good news of the lawyer, that the trial against Patrick would be held in a pair of weeks, could provide her a moment of joy.

She had been insulted many times, slighted, taken by less, but never had it been a person as important to her as Naruto. In spite that during a month she had done anything more than try to erase momentarily of her mind what she felt for the man, Hinata had never stopped loving him. Even though he had moved forward and had given his heart to another woman, she did not stop loving him. In many aspects he was her reason of being as she was. He was her example of life, from who Hinata had felt from an early age the happiness of living. He was the first person who had given her his friendship, the first love she had had in her life, and still had. And in just one minute all that had been ruined, trampled mercilessly and thrown in the trash.

Hinata would have never expected that the love of her life would be the one who caused her more damage, but it had been so. Why none of the people who wanted the cheer her up could see how much her heart was broken? How was that the people that desired to see her smile had not the cure for the pain she was feeling?

But with whom she was angrier, even more than with Naruto, was with Krupal. Maybe she was being unfair accusing the man for something he had not done, since Krupal was not to blame for what Patrick had done, but she could not take out of her mind that nothing that had happened would happened if it was not for the man.

It had been Krupal who had incentivized her to find a boyfriend, that her life did not have to rotate around Naruto, and if someone had to see for her happiness was her. If she would have never listened to his advice nothing would have happened. Maybe Hinata would continue having her heartbroken seeing as the Uzumaki followed a path different of the one where she was, but Naruto would have never insulted her as he had done. Krupal was largely the culprit of what had happened.

She hinted that conclusion one night, when Krupal had visited her. Sakura had gone out to have dinner with Sasuke (after much insisting of her part to ask her to accompany them, and many negative from her part, she had left her alone), so surely Krupal had considered a good idea to get together with her, but what he found was a Hinata flatly denied of his presence.

"Maybe you should leave", she said in a sulky, hurtful tone, very rare in her.

"Is that what you really want?" the man asked, surprised by her attitude.

"Yes! How do you dare to show up here after everything you have done?! It was you who incited me to be bolder, to stop seeing as my life rotates around Naruto! And now he hates me!"

Hinata felt much better with herself after she had released all those angry words, but after some minutes her happiness turned into astonishment. She knew how felt to have the heart broken into million pieces after some harsh words, but she had never thought to see that same symptoms in another person, and more that she was the cause of that expression. As soon as the declaration of her ire had reached Krupal's ears, the man's face had overshadowed, and a manifestation of pain seized his striking red eyes.

"I… Forgive me for hurt you so bad", the man said with a hurt tone that harmed Hinata profoundly. "Maybe I should go out of here…"

He got up from the armchair in which he was sitting, that was beside Hinata's bed, and began to walk away with his head down; but in the moment he had put his hand in doorknob, the young woman stopped him, embracing the chest of the man that almost had been about to leave her life, perhaps forever.

"I am sorry!" she moaned between tears. "Forgive me for what I said to you! Please, forgive me!"

They stayed like that for a while, without in the room was listened nothing but the crying of Hinata. The young woman began to worry seriously that with her words she had hurt the good relation she had with the professor. How could she be so stupid to say to him all that horrible things?! Certainly Krupal had encouraged the curiosity in her, but he had never met Patrick before she had spoken about him; it had not been he who had presented Patrick to her. Hinata had experienced a series of unfortunate events in which Krupal had not intervened at all; and now, because of her great stupidity, she had insulted the man only for the pain Naruto had occasioned to her.

But in the moment she least expected Krupal smiled to her, and Hinata's eyes sparkled as a night sky studded with stars.

"How can I be angry with you?" the man said with a sweet voice.

Hinata had never heard words so beautiful in her life.

Krupal left her for a moment to embraced her again, now both surrounding the back of the other. Hinata had not stopped crying, so she had put her face against the man's chest, and he, releasing one of his hands, had begun to caress her hair and face with soft movements. The Hyuga admired his courage to touch her hair, because since various days, motivated by her desire of not wanting to continue with her life, she had stopped washing it, and now it was matted and greasy.

She was so focused in this thought that she had not notice the moment in which Krupal had put his lips on hers. That kiss was different of the one they had the first time, with the excuse of his part to teach her how a real kiss felt. This time their mouths stayed together, motionless, only concentrating in the feeling.

As suddenly it had happened, Krupal separated his mouth from her, with an ashamed expression.

"I am sorry!" he exclaimed.

Hinata shook her head, to show that there was nothing to regret.

"I behave in a really stupid way when I am near you", he said, scratching his head. "Sometimes I feel like I am not as me when I am with you. You make me feel something… special…"

The young woman's cheeks turned red immediately. Krupal's confession had taken her by surprise; and even she had identified perfectly the symptoms the man was describing, because she had felt them firsthand. Was it possible that Krupal was feeling something for her that did not belong to a simple friendship?

What he said then surprised her:

"Why do not we go out? The night is beautiful; and it is time for you to see the world."

"But it is not too late?" Hinata asked with a nervous tone, watching the clock.

It was a little more of eleven o'clock.

"Does it matters? It is Sunday and the night is beautiful. Nothing is going to happen to you, I swear, and we will be back here before someone can miss you. Some weeks ago I have found a small café that has the most delicious cinnamon rolls I have ate in my life. When I retired from there I said to myself: "Surely Hinata will like this place"; and now I am asking you to accompany me. Will you reject my invitation?"

As soon as Hinata heard the words "cinnamon rolls" her mouth began to water. That was one of her favorite sweets; besides, the lack of food of the recent days took its toll in that moment. She accepted with pleasure the invitation of Krupal.

He got out of the room to let her prepare. Hinata returned to life in that instant. She came out from the shower rejuvenated, and when she put on the clothes that identify her so much, after submitted herself of dressing week after week of in the way Ino had proposed, she felt again as her.

When she came out of the room she said with happiness to Krupal:

"I am ready!"

Krupal took her to the café, which he had talked, in his car. After more than two months studying there, Hinata had never been interested in what was outside college walls. She marveled with all that small world had to offer beyond the campus. Night clubs, cafeterias, concerts halls, libraries, parks, outdoor presentations, restaurants of all kind, there were for all tastes and needs; and she promised to herself that henceforth she was going to take advantage off her weekends to go out to have fun in those places that offered to college students some hours of pleasure after the stress of the studies.

The café which Krupal had talked was a place extremely beautiful. It had an air that remembered the restaurants of the seventies, and all inside it had a theme of the era.

Instead of stay there to savor the promised sweet and have a good time, Krupal convinced her of ordering to carry and enjoy the meal in a place he swore she was going to find spectacular; so Hinata ordered a tea and the man a coffee, with a paper bag full of cinnamon rolls.

They went back to the car, and Krupal took her even further, where the hubbub of the city began to be behind them and everything was transforming into growing green. When he stopped the vehicle, the car was parked in a sort of natural terrace, covered it all with a layer of greenish splendor.

"We just have to climb a little, and you will see how beautiful is up there", Krupal promised, while opening the vehicle door.

The man took what they had ordered; and Hinata tried to follow the pace he had while climbing the hill to the promised place. Krupal arrived sooner than her. When she finally got to his side, panting, the man said to her in a mocking way:

"You have to do more exercise, miss Hyuga!"

"Do not bother me!"

When she finally caught her breath and she could concentrate in admiring what she had around her, she was speechless. From that point the entire city could be seen, with its small points of light bathing every corner, mixing in the nightly horizon of the sky.

Really the sight was amazing, dazzling, and she mentally thanked Krupal for letting her to see it.

"This is my favorite place in the city", Krupal said, surprising her, since she was distracted with the scenery. "It can be seeing everything from here. It is beautiful, is not it?"

"It is", Hinata answered, smiling to him.

After admiring the sight for a while they decided to eat those delicious cinnamon rolls they had bought. Sitting down near the edge of the terrace, so their legs were suspended in the air, they ate with pleasure. Hinata had never tasted cinnamon rolls as delicious as what she was eating. They were a real treat!

While they were eating they spoke about trivial, personal things, often pointless, only with the excuse to make the other smile. They not once touched the issue of college, what had done Patrick against her or what had happened with Naruto, and the young woman thanked it. For the first time since all those horrible events had happened they had been far for her mind.

During those talks Hinata learned more things about Krupal of which she had learned thru the two months she had known him. She knew more about the man's life in India, his country of birth, about how his parents, his grandmother and how he had to leave the country for political reasons, finding help in the United States. She also listened about his motive to undertake the medical career, and how he had met August Blunt, and the recommendation he had made to the rector so he could begin working with him.

Taken by curiosity, Hinata wanted to know if he had a girlfriend or was married. Krupal responded to this negatively. Even though there was no lack of women in his life, no one had stayed the enough time for a stable relationship to form between the two. Knowing he was single made the young woman very happy.

She too talked about herself, like she had a younger sister, that her father was the head of an important financial company, that her mother had died when she was a child and all the efforts and troubles that had brought to her to grew alone, under the incessant yoke of her father; who, lest he misinterprets the intent of her words, she loved very much. She also confessed her motive to study medicine. She talked about the longstanding friendship she had with Sakura, and how happy she was to count with the help of the pink-haired, especially after all she had been through for her fault.

She had not realized that hours had passed faster than she had imagined, and when she asked Krupal, frightened, what time was, and he answered that one o'clock, she was extolled. She had class tomorrow! Besides, tomorrow in the afternoon would take place the trial against Patrick! And Sakura should have arrived to the residence, and after not finding her would be nervous!

"We should go!" she said to Krupal in an emergency tone.

He nodded. They went to the man's car and he drove to the college.

Krupal was even so kind to escort her to her residence. When they arrived to the door that gave access to the building, Hinata said to him after some seconds:

"Thank you for asking me out."

"And thank you for accepting go out with me", Krupal said to her, smiling.

An uncomfortable silence was built between them after that. After a while Krupal broke it, saying:

"Well, have a good night."

But when he was starting to walk away, Hinata stopped him:

"Krupal!" she called.

The man came closer to her again, with a curious expression in the face.

Hinata said to him with a voice affected by the shame:

"Could you accompany me tomorrow to the trial? I would like to have the support of a friend."

Krupal saw her, surprised.

"If it is what you want", he answered after some minutes.

"Yes, I want it!" Hinata exclaimed.

"Then we will see at the court", the man said, smiling to her once more.

Hinata gave him the direction of the court and the hour in which the trial was going to take place. The man said he would be there.

When she reached to her residence, as she expected, Sakura had already arrived. She was waiting for her sat down in one of armchairs in the living room, still wearing the dress she had worn that night to have dinner with Sasuke.

"Is this the hour to come to home, miss Hyuga?" Sakura said, with a feigned voice of complaint.

"I wanted to go to get some fresh air", Hinata lied, putting her best smile of innocence.

"At one o'clock?"

She nodded vigorously.

Sakura came closer to her with threatening movements, but suddenly she stopped the charade of being angry and hugged her.

"I am very happy to see you are better", she said.

Hinata made an effort to not start to cry.

The afternoon of the next day arrived quicker of what she had expected. As he had promised, Krupal was waiting for her in the steps which gave access to the courthouse. Hinata presented him to the lawyer, saying he was a friend of her, and while the two men shook hands, Sakura took her apart of the group to say to her:

"I did not know that professor Blunt's assistant is your friend."

Hinata did not like the contemptuous way in which Sakura had said "professor Blunt's assistant".

Hinata, alongside the lawyer and her companions (Sakura, Sasuke and Krupal), went to the anteroom of the courtroom where the trial would take place.

The trial was scheduled for two p.m., but the clock above their heads marked two o'clock and kept moving forward for various minutes without Patrick and his lawyer or the judge showed up all the group looked at each other with worry. When everyone were asking to themselves was going on, a police came close to the group, talking with the lawyer:

"Are you here for the trial of two o'clock?"

"Effectively", the lawyer said.

"Well, something unexpected has happened. The mister who was being processed, Patrick O'Beirne, is missing."

"What are you saying?!" Hinata and Sakura exclaimed at the same time.

The police nodded.

"As are you listening. We have had a report of some friends of mister O'Beirne that he has not been seen by more than forty-eight hours. We asked his relatives, but neither his parents nor his brothers claimed to have seen him. We believe that he disappeared while he was someplace out of the university in which he study, or in the same campus. The most logical answer is that he escaped once he knew about the trial. Do any of you know where he is?"

All who were there shook their heads or murmured a negative sentence.

"Alright. Thank you for your comprehension. As soon as we have news about mister O'Beirne we will tell you."

The lawyer shook hands with the police and thanked him for his help.

Meanwhile Hinata could not help her astonishment. Patrick was missing? In the moment she was about to incriminate him? It was a terrible coincidence!

Krupal provided again his support in such fateful moments.

"You will see how everything is going to be okay", he said, giving her a comforting squeeze in the shoulder.

Hinata really hope so.

* * *

 _Two days before…_

The people who knew Patrick knew that one of the characteristics that defined him was the bad humor that took possession of him when the matter he had between hands went out of control. When the man reached such mood, the people who were with him preferred to stay away. That was the case of the three persons that in that moment were with him in that small motel room, where the man was walking like a caged animal, moving from right to left and from up to down, beating or kicking everything that got in his way.

These three people knew very well the reason of his rage: just hours before Patrick had received a letter, a citation, asking for his presence in a trial for defamation Hinata Hyuga had opened against him. Such was the ire of the man that he had begun to desecrate the name of the woman who was accusing him; but instead of staying to defend his name and face that "little bitch", as he had called her, he had took the worst decision his mind monopolized by the frustration and rage could take: flee from there. Now the police of the entire county was chasing for him and his three companions for just having made a little joke to Patrick's ex-girlfriend.

Because yes, Patrick was the culprit of all the commotion that had originated those photographs. Everything had been funny at the beginning, as to build the plot in which a false Hinata, represented by one of his good "friend", who looked a lot like the Hyuga, gave herself with open arms to the pleasure, offering her body to two of Patrick's best friends. Certainly everything had been very funny initially, but none of them would have imagined that the shy and stupid Hinata would have the guts to open against Patrick, as well as to the other three, a trial for defame her good name.

Now they were fugitives from justice, without a possibility of salvation. But Patrick's irritability, as well as the rest of his companions, was not only for the trial opened against them, but also for the presence of a fifth person in that small room.

All they knew him (at least of sight), all they knew about the participation he had had in the matter of the photographs, and all they, especially Patrick, were sure that no one than him had the greatest part of guilty between them.

It had been that person, and not Patrick, who had asked them to think up a good plan to hurt Hinata Hyuga. It had been that man who had taken advantage of the pain that the woman had caused Patrick to tempt him to commit revenge against her. It had been him, and no one of the four, that had even put his money to achieve success in the plan. Because of that same man, who in that very moment was sitting down comfortably at the table while smoking with a carefree expression, Patrick and his friends had the noose in their necks.

Patrick was observing him as if he could not believe his impertinence. How he could be so calm when the police were chasing them? How he could be so calm when was him the culprit of all his problems?

"You are the one who got us into this! You are the cause why the police are searching for us! Get me out of this hole or I swear I will drag you with me!" Patrick threatened, his friends no longer knew how many times, the man.

But as always happened when he tried to intimidate the subject, he remained imperturbable, smoking his cigarette and throwing away the ashes in the ashtray with an irritating parsimony.

Finally Patrick got fed. He came closer to the table where the man was seated in a sudden manner, and, exerting all the strength of his arms, he struck the surface with his two fists.

"Are you listening to me?!"

"Yes, I am listening to you", the man answered, after throwing the smoke of the cigarette, "but since you are not saying anything useful I prefer to think that I did not listen anything."

"What the hell are you saying?! You were the one who got us into this! Fix it!"

The man laughed, and his laugh was cold and sarcastic.

"I got you into this? As far as I know I only asked you to bitter Hinata's life, not to do the whole show you had done. Really, who could anyone think to build so cheap assembly, as you and your friends did, and pretend that everything was going to be fine? Only such morons as you could think in that way!"

Patrick stepped back, as if the words were bullets hitting his chest.

"I want my money", he said between teeth.

"What money?"

"The one you owe me!"

As if Patrick would have needed more incentive to help him with the work (as if he really had needed it!), the man had offered to him three thousand dollars for the job, one thousand and five hundred at the beginning and the other one thousand and five hundred when everything would have been done. Patrick never had need for money, but how he could decline to such amount of money, even more when it came so easily?

He had received the first one thousand five hundred (with this he had constructed the farce, and had spent the rest celebrating his successful), but he had not obtained the rest of the money, and Patrick was looking for it especially because that money could help him to escape once and for all of the police.

But the other had a surprise for him:

"I told you I would give you the other one thousand and five hundred if you were able to obtain success. If we are fair, you have done the job at the beginning, but then your whole plan has fail. Besides, I do not want to be involved with a fugitive from justice."

Patrick clenched his jaw in such way that his teeth chattered against each other.

With his fists clenched, he asked:

"So, are you not going to give me anything?"

"Not a dollar."

The jaw tightened even more.

"Fuck you!" he said. "I told you: if I fall, you are going to fall with me! Do not think you are going to get away from this, you moron!"

The man smiled.

"There is no need to be so aggressive!" he said, leaving what remained of the cigarette in the ashtray, rising up. "Maybe I do not have the money, but I have something better: a ticket to freedom!"

As soon as the last words passed through the ears of the four of them their eyes began to shine, showing how excited they were. Patrick, especially, began to dream. Freedom! Where was he going to take them? Hopefully out the city! Or even better, out of the country! He could begin his life wherever meanwhile the horrifying thought of facing the law would not be more than an illusion.

He was going to ask the man where he was going to take them when what he saw left him speechless. Instead of a friendly hand, the man tended toward them a gun; in the free hand he had a knife.

"What the hell?!" one of Patrick's friend said.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Patrick shouted.

"This is your ticket to freedom: death!" the man answered, smiling.

The only female of the group, the one who had impersonated Hinata, approached to the man and crouched before him, embracing his legs and begging for her life. She was the first to die. Merciless, the man had targeted the gun against her head and shot directly to the skin. Her body fell to the floor immediately.

While the man shook her legs, so the woman's body could detached of him, one of Patrick's friend, the same who had the audacity to shout to the killer, launched himself over him and tried to hit him, but quickly the man bent down, so he was below him, and with an upward movement he cut his chest with the knife, causing that the blood sprouted in all directions. The wounded moved backward, shocked by the attack, before dying.

His third friend received a shot in the heart. He died immediately.

It only remained Patrick. Fear had gripped him by witness the easy and brutal way in which his friends had been murdered. The next was going to be him!

The man saw him with an evil smile. Because of the second attack, he had the left side of his face and the left hand soggy with blood, as well as the shirt he was wearing, which was painted as a canvas by the vital fluid. When he saw him, Patrick felt even more fear.

He began to beg for his life:

"Please, do not kill me. I do not know your name, not where you live, I do not know anything about you! I will not tell the police we have met, and when they find me, and they see my friends dead, I will lie, I will say it has not be you. But please, let me live! I will give you whatever you want! Do you need money? I have a lot of it! You have only to put your…"

He shut up immediately. The man had shot to his chest, and the pain the bullet had produced to him had been so strong that his lungs lost all their capacity to breath.

While he was torn by the grief, the man picked up what remained of his cigarette, put it into his mouth and approached Patrick, moving the gun to his head.

"Ready to say your last words?" he asked, smiling.

Patrick never had seen a smile such frightening as that. It was the smile of a demon.

The sound of the trigger being squeezed arrived to his ears before everything put dark in front of his eyes. Patrick O'Beirne had stopped living.

* * *

Sarah Black always had had high aspirations. From an early age she had dreamed in big, seeing herself as an exemplary woman who highlight in all the areas which she proposed, being beautiful and flashy for a big number of men, married with a good husband and with lovely babies calling her "mom". But at her twenty-eight years old her life could not be more contradictory of what she had aspired to be.

On one side, even though she had dedicated five and stressful long years of her life studying Economy, her job was far of being related with the economic sphere. Day after day she went to work in her position as a phone assistant in a cellphone franchise, and nothing seemed to indicate that her job position would amount to best deals. In the other hand, she was not married, and she had had few engagements (every one of them had ended very badly), and she had more than enough fingers to count how many friends she had.

But the most painful aspect in her life was the wound her soul had after the social relations she had had during her existence. Faraway of being the popular woman that she had aspired to be, she had been treated in a very derogatory way by a lot of people, more than anything when she had shown openly her desire of being important. Because of that she got used to be reserved.

It was not like Sarah did not like that reserved aspect of her personality, but definitely being like she was brought her many problems, especially at the time to defend her rights. She had worked very hard in her life to have the little things she had; and never, in spite of her aspirations, she had raised her voice to complain of what was happening, conforming to the bad sentimental situation she had and with the undignified job she performed.

It was as if a part of her had got accustomed to everything, burying forever that Sarah who aspired to have good things and a life to boast, and that reality made her feel defeated, extremely depressed; and drove her further in being reserved. All this until she met him.

Even though her high aspirations Sarah had never imagined that so handsome and solicitous man as Ferdinand Daniels could join in her life, but it was that happen.

The first time Ferdinand approached her it had been a bad day for Sarah. While she was deploring her luck, seated down in a staircase, which got access to a kind of amphitheater she liked to visit, a red rose, of a scarlet so profound that she had never seen, appeared in front of her, and with the flower she observed the face of the subject that was holding it, and she marveled. It was the first time that someone of Ferdinand's appearance came closer to her; and that part of her, which still clung to her aspirations, felt comforted. At last something good had happened in her life, something that encouraged her wishes!

Ferdinand was not only the most handsome man she had known, but also the most attentive. Immediately, during the following days since they met, he had made her feel special, as if she had a big importance in his existence. While the days went by, and Sarah and he became closer, she had opened her heart completely to him, telling everything about her, her desires and fears, without leaving anything inside her, desirous that a part of her essence impregnated the man forever; and Ferdinand had listened to her attentively, without judging.

But Ferdinand was not only a good looking and attentive man, but also a very good lover. The first time they have a date, in a style of not formalized couple, he had made her feel extremely special, taking her out to dinner in a pretty restaurant, and accompanying her to her house after the evening as a gentleman. Whenever they encountered he gave her flowers, most of the time roses, of the same beauty and tonality of which he had given to her the first time they had met. He had details tremendously beautiful and romantic with her, as to offer to her a seat at the table when they dinner or listening to what she said mindfully, without appear bored or uninterested.

When they had their first kiss, after some weeks of dating, Sarah felt like she could fly. Nobody ever had kissed her in that way! Ferdinand had something special, something that no man possessed, and Sarah was the benefactor of that wonderful aspect. She did not missed a moment to link her lips with his when they were together, and soon she had become addicted to his kisses, wishing to be more time hugging Ferdinand, beseeching to never leave his side.

If anyone was responsible that the relationship arrived to a more serious point was her. Sarah was the one who asked him, rather begged him, for him to be sexually with her. Her only sexual relation had been very dreadful, a memory for oblivion, and Sarah wanted to see if Ferdinand was a good lover as kissing, and he did not disappointed her.

Could exist a man as perfect as Ferdinand? Sarah had won the lottery with that man, and that man was all hers.

She gloated in that thought in that very instant; surrounding herself as she could between the quilt in that night of late autumn. She recently had made love with Ferdinand, and she was under the sheets completely naked, enjoying the shadows of the caresses her lover had left in her skin.

While she was enjoying those memories, Ferdinand was a few meters from her, having a shower. Sarah could hear from the bed the sound of the water hitting the floor tiles. She thought, with some mischievously, that it might be a good idea joining the man in the shower, but a cold air steam made her desist, and think that it would be better to wear something warm. She rose from the bed, picked up her night gown over one of the chairs in the room and put it around her body, tying the belt as firmly as she could, thanking the soft fabric of the clothing for providing her heat.

She saw the clock on the nightstand: it was four o'clock. She said to herself that maybe she also should take a shower, because she soon would have to meet her work schedule.

She was picking out the clothes she was going to wear when the water of the shower stop running. Some minutes after the bathroom door opened, and she heard a man's voice saying:

"Do you know the night is darker before the dawn?"

She turned around, surprised. The voice who had spoken did not belong to Ferdinand, but a sarcastic and sinister one. Frightened, she observed that the man who had come out of the bathroom was not the same who had entered. Ferdinand was tall, tanned skin, brown eyes and black hair. The man that was now standing in the threshold of the bathroom door did not have any of those characteristics. What most impressed her were his red eyes, which shone in the dim light of the room as two lighthouses of perdition.

"Who are you?" Sarah asked, scared.

"It is not important who I am", the man answered with a melodious voice. "You can call me Ferdinand if you want."

Sarah put a surprised expression in her face and her companion laughed, with a cold, cruel laugh.

"How can you be Ferdinand? You do not look like him…" the woman babbled.

The man dedicated her another of his cold laughs.

"Poor little silly", he said. "Can you not believe it is possible for a person to have two identities? Ferdinand and I, we are the same person, darling."

"You are lying!" Sarah shouted. "You are not Ferdinand! I am going to call the police and…!"

Sarah was interrupted immediately, and in very surprising way. The unknown had put his lips on hers, making her stop talking; and even though everything around her was saying otherwise, she had to recognize that kissing that man and what she had felt kissing Ferdinand were similar sensations. It was not only that, but also other details that the woman saw, as the form of his face, which were the same in both man, or the exquisite fragrance she had identified in Ferdinand and this man also had.

Maybe she was hallucinating, but the only logical reasons she could think to justify the man's presence was, first, that he had entered by force in her apartment, hiding in the bathroom and waiting for Ferdinand to tie him up and impersonate him, or second, that this unknown man was really Ferdinand. Sarah leaned towards the second option, more than anything because the man had under his arm the clothes Ferdinand had worn that night; besides a white towel (that she had given to her lover), where it could be seen traces of corporal makeup, a wig of black hair, and, in the hand, a small case for contact lenses. Maybe, as he had said, he had represented the role of Ferdinand, but, with what objective?

When they separated Sarah felt tired, but rapt. The man had left in her a sensation of kissing someone prohibitively exciting, as if she had been kissing a demon. Besides she had to admit that in the proximity that unknown looked extremely sensuous, with that provocative sensuality that is so characteristic of the evil. Whether or not he was Ferdinand she not regretted his absent. That unknown guy was much better than his lover, and Sarah wished to have again the opportunity to kiss him, for more surprising that was his presence.

But her wish was not fulfilled. The man smiled to her, revealing his white teeth, that glittered so much as his eyes, with an almost animal appearance, and Sarah blushed to the roots of her hair.

He walked away from her to go to the bag Ferdinand had left in a chair when he had entered the room, and while he was putting inside it the things he had in hands, he said:

"Now do you believe I am Ferdinand, although I am not really him?"

"You look like him" the woman confessed, blushing at the same time. "But why did you represent Ferdinand when you could be like this, as you are? And, what is your real name?"

"You do many questions, darling", the man said, laughing. "First, I took the personality of Ferdinand because in that way it was going to be more easy be near you; besides, I do not want to give the police any advantage over me. Second, I told you, my name does not matter; but if you are interested some people call me monster, others even demon. I am really surprised that you yet do not have recognized me after everything that have been said about me!"

Sarah saw him, surprised. What was he talking?

"These are pretty good", the unknown said, raising his hands in the air; and since he was back Sarah could not observe what was he talking about.

But it did not take long to see what he was referring. He turned around moments later after saying that phrase and when he did it the edges of two fairly large and long knives shone, which he had in hands. When Sarah saw them frightened, and, as if she had hit her head and in this way allowed that clarity entered her brain, everything began to match inside her. That man was the red-eyed monster!

"Why me?!" she screamed. "Why me?!"

"Come on, Sarah! Do not you want to pass to posterity, being famous and recognized?! I am going to do such an artwork with you that the newspapers and the police are going to talk about it for months! You will be famous thank to me!" the red-eyed monster answered madly.

The man had been approaching her slowly, cornering Sarah to the back of the room, where the bed was. The woman fell in it, finding herself too late surrounded by the murderer, who, with his knees at each side of her body, prevented her for escaping. He leaned over her, putting the edges of the two knives dangerously in her neck, increasingly pressing them until he made Sarah feel lack of oxygen. The man had left aside his striking appearance and had transformed into a real monster, smiling in such way that his sharp teeth stuck out of his evil smile. His red eyes sparkled like crazy.

Definitely at the end of her life Sarah had obtained what she wanted the most: being recognized by the world. She had become the sixth victim of the red-eyed monster; and no newspaper, no people stopped talking about her.

* * *

Sorry for the lenght of the chapter.

I hope you like the chapter. If that so, please leave me a review, it would make me very happy. See you soon!


	5. Chapter V

**The red-eyed monster**

 _A series of murders against young and innocent's women put in check the police and the society. Without clues or any links to lead the police to the whereabouts of this cruel monster, can Hinata Hyuga be saved in time before her name join the list of the victims of the so call red-eyed demon?_

 **Disclaimer:** Naruto and its characters don't belong to me, but Masashi Kishimoto.

Sorry for my english, it's the first time I write in english. I beg your pardon for my grammar errors.

* * *

Before the tomatoes start to fall over me I want to say four things.

The first, Naruto is going to have a very special section in this chapter (one especially dedicated to all naruhina fans).

The second, since on one side I don't like the people that not even identified are insulting others for the mere reason they want to do it, and on the other because somethings in this particular chapter can be confusing for some of you, I want to make clear how much important for me is the understanding of the human nature. I am huge fan of Agatha Christie, especially of Hercule Poirot, and Poirot has showed me that human nature is universal and repetitive. I have had the opportunity to transfer into the real life the words of my favorite detective and I have realized he was quite right.

What I want to say with this is that I respect very much the personalities of the characters made by Kishimoto, but I take a little more into consideration what logic dictates me when I am thinking of what Hinata, Naruto, and company, would do in certain cases. I only want you to make a little work of imagination. If you meet a person who is perfect in appearance, that only have eyes for you, would you not feel the same thing Hinata is feeling for Krupal? If you discover a dark secret of a best friend of yours, would you not get mad as Naruto did in the last chapter?

Finally I want to say that everything that happened (and is going to happen) in the story happen for something. You are going to see it at the end, when the story is complete.

And to all naruhina fans who are reading this fic, would you mind if I take the license to make Naruto to suffer just a little? Please?

Thank you for your comprehension, to read all this testament.

Lastly, I want to thank all the people that so far had left me a review and are following the story. Thank you all for your kind words that make me so happy in this desparate life of mine.

* * *

 **Chapter V**

The murder: like the others. The victim: like the many that had been killed until now. The murdered, the same: the red-eyed monster.

David Craig sighed with tiredness while massaging his temple to mitigate the headache which was assaulting him in that very moment. He glanced back, to the place he had left, before moving forward: the forensic department, where the dead body of a young woman named Sarah Black was, the red-eyed monster's sixth victim; and who, the same as her predecessors, had the organs so separate from the others and the body so exposed that it looked like the killer had played with her as if she was a doll which parts could be disarmed and united again.

Despite of had been an eyewitness of every crime scene left by the red-eyed demon, David Craig could not still gather inside him the enough cold blood to not be angry and moved by the horror in front of his eyes. But one thing that he never would get used to, for more experience that he had, was to this obsession (because it was a damn obsession!) the killer had to not leave behind him the slightest hint: nor a hair or a fingerprint, nor a print from his shoes after have stepped by accident over a pool of blood, nothing at all; and Craig could not hold his anger in front of this bothersome reality.

But the truth was that this time something different had happened. Maybe it was not the overwhelming proof Craig wanted to have, but the discovery of the victim's diary in her room, in which she had wrote in detail – with that attention for the details so characteristic of the women to which any detail escapes – her love relationship with this unknown Ferdinand Daniels, could be the best evidence he could obtain in such desperate moments (even though the detective had a slight hope that this name, Ferdinand Daniels, say something to him, the man described by Sarah Black did not appeared in any database the police had).

Certainly, a physical proof, as a fingerprint or a DNA test, would convince more the jury and the judge in a trial, but it should never be overestimated the importance of knowing more subjective aspects of the killer, as its personality. Craig, throughout his police career, had faced cases in which the physical proofs said little or nothing, in which he had to seize on more by the interpretation of the murderer way of being that to the things the criminal had left in a crime scene. The red-eyed assassin insisted on not giving the police the slightest chance to know something about him, but who said it was impossible to catch him red handed by comprehending his personality, being helped by a resource he did not know the police had?

At least Craig had understood many aspects about the murderer he did not know, meanwhile he had been waiting for the report of the forensic. He had thought, for example, that the red-eyed demon chose his victim on the spot, that he selected one woman randomly to kill her, but he had realized, thanks to the diary, it was the opposite. The killer rather chose who he wanted to kill in advantage, and then he made all a circus in which he behaved in a very charming way to trap in his net the victim and later kill her.

But how he chose them? What standard he used? He knew, by the cases he had studied before, that the red-eyed monster usually like to kill young women, no more than thirty years old, all of them, in one way or another, quite unsafe, to whom life had treated them badly, and, surely, they had found solace to their pain in the arms of the demon. But how he could have known about the personalities of his victims? Had he a database, as which the police had to identify criminals, to find out the woman who satisfies his desires? Or rather he saw them in the street and said to himself: "this is the one I want"?

David Craig was a detective, not a psychiatrist; but he knew a psychopathologist, a man named Karl Olson, who had helped before the police. The doctor had had a great facility to understand the mind of the assassins, especially serial killers, of which up to then he had been asked to study. He was positive that, using Sarah Black's diary and his own resources, the doctor was going to help him to form a definite idea of the red-eyed monster's personality; and in this way allowing Craig to have what he wanted the most: to have the possibility, in the near future, to put a name and a face to the demon who had terrified so many young women and the police itself.

The only thing he needed was the approval of the chief inspector, his boss. He was sure that with the resources he had, the other man would not object his idea to call the experienced doctor Olson. But the proofs he had gathered had been recently collected; and now the chief inspector was occupied, locked in his office with two police officers of a neighbor county, who had come for his help God knows why. Craig only had to wait for the right opportunity, and even though the impatience made him feel uneasy, he was going to wait how much time it was necessary.

Life has many times a very unexpected and amazing course of action, and Craig had the opportunity to experience that sensation first hand.

Alice Brown was a kind of intern in the police department. She was a young woman of twenty-two years old, with a very big desire to be a police agent in the future; and, while she was studying to fulfill her objective, she spent much of her free time in the department bringing coffee to the police officers and behaving in a marvelous way with the citizens who went to the place searching for the help of the police. David Craig was very fond of her, especially by the baleful life the young woman had behind the door of her house. Her mother was an alcoholic, who preferred to be in the arms of the man who offer her alcohol than taking care of her sons, leaving all the responsibility to Alice to take care of the house and her two little brothers. The detective saw her as the younger sister he never had (he had grown up in a house in which the only woman was his mother), and he always was disposed to help her in anything she needed. Alice was very fond of the man as well, continuously smiling to him and behaving in a joker mode that made him forget momentarily the horrors of his job.

Alice was the one who said this to him:

"The chief is waiting for you. He said he have to say something important to you."

Craig got up of his seat so quickly that it looked like a spring had moved him out of the chair.

"Thank, Alice! You do not know how much I have been waiting the moment to meet the chief! I have to show him something very important!"

Alice saw him with a puzzled expression, but then she smiled.

"Do you want some coffee after the meeting?"

"I would love it", Craig answered, smiling. "I will need it for this night. It is quite likely I am going to spend the evening here with this."

He tapped the desk, where was resting the report the forensic had gave him about Sarah Black.

"Then, let me stay with you this night", the young woman asked.

"I could not! I do not know how much time I am going to be here. I could work until dawn! Your brothers would need you…"

"My brothers are going to be fine", Alice asseverated. "I made them dinner before coming here, and they are already old enough to take care of themselves. But you have stayed here working on all these cases many nights! Please, let me keep you company."

Craig sighed. He did not have time to fight with the woman, his boss was waiting for him; besides, the way Alice was looking at him made it clear to him that her decision was firm.

"Alright. But when I finished to work, you have to let me take you to your home."

"We have a deal!", Alice exclaimed, smiling. "We will meet soon!"

Achieved her goal, the young woman walked away from him, and Craig sighed again. His "little sister" could be stubborn when she wanted.

He picked up the report of the forensic about Sarah Black and put it in lockable drawer, in which he had put all the reports and proofs he had gathered up to that point about the red-eyed monster. When it came the turn of the diary, an uneasy sensation attacked him. Craig had in his hands something that could help him catch the red-eyed demon. What if someone stole it or took it under the façade of an innocent act? What if he lost it? Paranoid, he put the diary in one of the pockets inside his jacket and went to the chief inspector's office.

When he arrived to the place, the two agents, who had visited his boss, were saying goodbye to him. Craig bowed his head as greeting when the two visitors saw him, and they made the same. Then the chief inspector greeted him, and with a move of his hand invited him to enter in the office.

The chief inspector sat down in his seat behind the desk, and Craig followed his example, taking one of the chairs in front of the man. Once he was accommodated, the chief slid toward him four photographs. The detective took them and studied them slowly.

Nothing he had not seen before: four young beings, a woman and three men, some of them shot and some of them stabbed, who were in what appeared to be the room of a sleazy motel. What really amazed him, and took him by surprise, was that every one of them had drawn in their foreheads, surely made with a knife, an eye with a vertical pupil. If Craig did not know as much as he knew, he could have taken the marks as a satanic symbol made by a lunatic, but he knew very well it was not like that. The person who had done them was the same murderer that had been tormenting his nights or a fanatic of him, because that was the red-eyed monster's signature. Craig had found similar eyes in every crime scene where the red-eyed demon had participated.

"What is the meaning of this?" he asked.

"Last Friday night– simply put, the same weekend our new victim of the red-eyed monster, Sarah Black, was dated to die – were killed four young in a motel room in the edge of the road that go to the neighbor county. Their names were Patricia Slack, Richard Stone, John Cram and Patrick O'Beirne. One of the cleaning ladies found out the bodies the last Saturday, when she entered the room to clean it. She said she discovered the room's door unlocked, so that if anyone turned the knob it could be enter without problem. Regarding the crime details they are very vague, but I know few things I am sure you are going to find intriguing. According to the security cameras, a man, about who is quite difficult to see his factions in the video, entered the room. In the recording is clear that one of the young opened the door to him. He came out half an hour later. Two hours after this a group of men rented the neighbor room, whom, by the receptionist that had worked in the motel that night, were very drugged and drunken. The security camera recorded the moment in which one of the men, who had rented the room, came out and how two minutes later returned back, but he mistook the room and entered in the one the four bodies were found. I intuit they were dead in that moment, or they were really careless, because when the man went inside the room he did it without difficulty; the door was unlocked by then. This person came out ten minutes later and then he returned to his room; and any other movement stopped there, until next morning, when the cleaning lady found out the bodies."

"I do not understand what of this has to be with me, or with the case I am working on", Craig said, frowning.

The chief inspector sighed.

"I know it is difficult to see it, but, as I said, there are interesting details with this case, one especially that will astound you the most. There was found not more than the prints left by the man who entered and stayed for ten minutes in the room and the one belonging to the four young people. But there was no hint of the fifth person who had been with the four and had stayed at least half an hour in the room. Nor a fingerprint, nor the ashes of a cigarette in the ashtray, nor a cloth fiber belonging to his clothes. Who, of our current murderers, is the most expert in not leaving behind him any proof?"

"The red-eyed monster."

The words came out of his mouth without having conscious of them.

The chief inspector nodded.

"But the bodies were dismembered, mutilated in some way?" Craig asked.

This time the chief inspector had to shake the head.

"The four bodies were intact."

"Then, how you can know it was _him_ who killed them? The signature of the eye and the lack of prints mean nothing in front the absence of a modus operandi that matches the other crimes. Besides, the red-eyed monster has not killed men."

"I know, but I find that this matter is rather suspicious. It is possible that our "favorite" murderer has nothing to do with this affair, but the one who have made this is he or someone who wanted to imitate him, and quite enough. We have caught the drugged man. He belongs to one of those groups that have been formed in the social networks, extolling the exploits the red-eyed monster have been doing. He said that when he entered the room the four young were already dead, and it seemed funny to him to draw in their foreheads the signature of the killer whom so much he adores. Why we can not accept that the one who have killed them was another fanatic of the red-eyed monster, or the assassin himself? Maybe they found out something that they should not have discovered, and the demon killed them."

"I insist", Craig said, "I do not know what all this have to do with me. Why the police that have jurisdiction over that county do not take responsibility for the case?"

The chief inspector sighed once more.

"You will see, David. It has been discovered an interesting detail with this mister, Patrick O'Beirne. First, he came from a wealthy family, which has not stopped bothering me to find out who killed him. Secondly, a hotshot is linked to him. Some weeks before his murder a young woman named Hinata Hyuga had opened against him a trial for defamation."

David Craig gave a whistle of admiration. His boss was right, they were getting inside the territory of a hotshot, and the detective did not like at all being in the land of such powerful family as the Hyuga. For what he had heard, the young woman's father could cause them big problems if he got his nose in the matter.

"Miss Hyuga is studying in a college that enters in our jurisdiction. That is why I want you to pay her a visit. Besides, for what I have heard about her, her personality fit perfectly in the standards that the red-eyed killer is looking for. Believe me, I would not ask you this if I do not know you can take care of both cases at the same time. You are the best agent I have, and I trust you."

The detective frowned, thinking seriously. Certainly, he was occupied with the case of the red-eyed monster, but it was moving at turtle speed thanks to the efforts of the murderer himself. To put his mind to work in another murder case maybe could help him to clear the stress the job he had between hands was causing him. Besides, the chief inspector was right: the murder of those four young, that the red-eyed demon signature was printed on their foreheads, the way the real murderer had not left any hint behind him, all that was quite suspicious; and binding with the case he had been working so arduously. Maybe it was not a bad idea to make a courtesy visit to miss Hyuga and find out what lay behind it all.

"I accept", he said at last, after some minutes, "but I want a corresponding monetary increase to my efforts."

"You will have it", the chief inspector asseverated.

"And besides I want your license to call doctor Karl Olson. The last victim of the red-eyed monster had left a diary, in which she had described how she had met him. Maybe we do not have right now strong proofs, but it could help us a lot to know about his personality, and doctor Olson would aid a very much with that."

"You have it. Something more?"

Craig shook his head; and the chief inspector wished him a good afternoon before he left his office.

When he left the room, David Craig felt over his shoulders a new aura of responsibility, and that made him feel reinvigorated and ready for the fight. The opportunity to wipe the smile of the red-eyed monster's face was close.

* * *

Hinata pulled out a tray from oven, in which lay a steaming chocolate cake. She took a knife and began to cut it in small pieces, of rectangular form, while enjoying the chocolate smell that widespread through the kitchen. Once the cake was sliced in various portions of brownies, she put them in a white cardboard box.

She was putting the latest pieces of brownie inside the box when the residence's door opened and Sakura came in. She made an expression of happiness few seconds after entering, enjoying the smell the cake had left in every corner of the place.

"It smells delicious!" she said. "What is the occasion?"

"I am going out with Krupal, and I thought it was a good idea to cook something of my own so he can taste it", Hinata answered, smiling.

As soon as her answer reverberated in the air, Sakura's smile turned into an angry gesture. Frowning, she said:

"Lately you have spent a lot of time with professor Randhawa."

Hinata blushed.

Certainly, during the last hours she had been more attached to Krupal than never. In one part worried by Patrick's sudden disappearance, and eager that the matter with the trial for defamation come to an end, and in other still profoundly hurt by what Naruto had said against her, she had found comfort to her concerns in the company of the professor.

Being with the man made her feel extremely satisfied, even protected, and Hinata appreciated every moment she had spent with him. Either was talking, laughing or simply respecting the other's silence, Krupal made her feel understood, supported at so hard times; and that Sakura put into question the strong friendship she had with the teacher hurt her deeply. It looked like she was predestined that when some things in her life were well, the others tear up.

"I know you do not like me to be with him, but Krupal makes me very happy", Hinata said.

"Really? Really he makes you feel very happy?" Sakura asked with sarcasm and disbelief.

"Yes!" the Hyuga asseverated, uttering the statement harder.

Sakura frowned once more, again with an angry expression. What she said then was pronounced with a happy tone, but Hinata realized her tone of voice was as false as her supposed happiness:

"I am happy to hear that."

Hinata drew a sad, but at the same time angry expression on her face; but when she was going to answer to Sakura's commentary her smartphone began to ring, indicating to her that she had received a message. It was Krupal, who with an: "I am down here", was informing her he had arrived to go out with her.

The young woman picked up the cardboard box, where the brownies were, and said to Sakura:

"I am leaving."

"Have fun."

Once again her friend's tone of voice sounded derogatory.

But Hinata erased with a shook of her head the bad impression that Sakura's way of speaking had occasioned to her; and she took her belongings, which were in a bag hanging in one of the tall chairs of the kitchen, and left the place.

As she was expecting, Krupal was waiting for her in front of the door that gave access to the residences building. When she saw him, Hinata saluted him with a wave of hand and smiled to him. The man dedicated her a smile as well.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

The Hyuga nodded vigorously.

"Then let's go!"

Hinata followed him to his car; and the man drove her to the same natural terrace they had visited the previous weekend. The man had made a quick stop in the same café in where they had bought the cinnamon rolls, and in which this time Krupal purchased a pair of beverage. After this they went directly to the place of meeting, to where, once more, Hinata had gotten with her tongue hanging out due the fatigue of climb up.

When both of them sat down, with their legs hanging from the terrace edge, the young woman took some minutes to admire the landscape. This time was a little more than six, and a greyish haze came down over them as a gray silk curtain, while in the sky heavy clouds swirled over each other, announcing the cold weather they were untying. Hinata surrounded herself with the jacket she was wearing, searching for warmth.

She surprised when she felt Krupal's hand over her shoulder, leaving it later in her waist, bringing her attention up to him.

He said to her:

"You must be really cold to shake like that."

"I am afraid I do not wear a coat appropriate for the weather", Hinata said, blushing.

"Take this, you are going to feel better."

Krupal pulled his arm away, making Hinata miss the comforting sensation she had felt thank to it. But soon the absence of the arm was replaced by a heavy jacket, which the man had put over her shoulders, and tight it around her body by embracing her. Hinata did not know if she was blushing by the way in which Krupal was hugging her or because he had given her for a second time one of his jackets.

"Do you feel better?" the man asked.

"Are you not going to be cold?" Hinata inquired with concern, seeing by the corner of her eyes that Krupal was only wearing a black jacket and a shirt without tie in such chilly weather.

"Do not worry for me! I am a strong man!"

The Hyuga laughed seeing as Krupal made a mimicry in which he bent his right arm, showing the strength of his muscles, tapping those after doing that.

"Drink this, it will help you get warm as well", the man said, giving her the beverage.

The young woman took the carton vessel that Krupal had offered her and drank of it. As soon as the tea inside the receptacle went through her throat, she felt a comforting warmth going through her body.

"Take this, I made this to you", was Hinata's turn to offer something. "I cooked them myself."

She opened the cardboard box, where she had kept the brownies, and invited Krupal to take one. He did so, and a joy expression furrowed his face while he ate the dessert.

"It is delicious!" her companion exclaimed. "You are not only beautiful, but also an excellent cook. Surely you are going to find soon a man worthy of you!"

Hinata blushed by the flattery, but soon her expression turned into a hurt one. The memory of a man who she had decided was worthy for her, Naruto, brought to her mind the horrible words the Uzumaki had said to her.

Krupal did not slip away her change of mind, because he said:

"I am sorry. I… I made you remember something painful…"

"It is amazing that after two weeks it still affect me", Hinata said, smiling sadly.

"Two weeks are not enough to heal with a heartbroken, especially after loving someone in the way and during the time you have done."

"I would like to do it, at least to stop suffering", the young woman answered with a sad look.

For second time, Krupal put one of his hands around her waist, bringing her up to him. Hinata rested her head in the man's shoulder, seeing absently the horizon.

It was comforting to have a shoulder to lean on when a lot of things in her world, especially the most important, were teetering; and if the one who offered to her a helping hand was Krupal, she was going to take it whatever were the opinions of the people around her, more than anything Sakura. Randhawa made her feel loved and protected, and they were sensations Hinata did not want to leave. During those almost three months since she knew him, Krupal had found a way through her heart and had settled there, as a seed in the ground. Now the tree had grown up, and she was not willing to endure the idea that someone ripped him of her existence.

"My friend Sakura does not like you", Hinata said, smiling once more with a sad smile.

"I realized that in the court, by the way she looked to me", Krupal answered, smiling. "I think she believe I am not worthy of you, or she is afraid that your friendship with her will get hurt because of me. But that does not bother me. What I really care, and what it is only important to me, it is what you think about me. Meanwhile you want me to be at your side, I am not going anywhere."

Hinata blushed, but then smiled, feeling happy. Krupal brought her closer to him, and the young girl enjoyed the closeness.

"Have confidence that, whatever are the circumstances you are going through, I will not abandon you."

This time she looked surprised. It was the first time Krupal, or anyone, made her such a serious oath. And since she was frightened that everything was an illusion of her hurt heart, that what she had heard was not more than a dream, she demanded:

"Promise me it."

"I swear, miss Hyuga, I am not going to abandon you and I will be forever for you", Krupal said with a hand on the heart.

From Hinata's eyes tears began to fall, and in a sudden movement she launched herself with open arms over the man and hugged him tightly.

During those days Krupal not only had become the tree under which she harbored her pain, but also the energy that began to fill slowly the empty spaces left in her heart by Naruto. The Uzumaki's insult had left her deeply hurt, with the sensation that a part of her soul, the same part that had clung to the love she had felt for the blond, had been ripped gruffly. Krupal had begun to fill those spaces in her heart, making her feel more supported and safe. Hinata still could not believe that after all she had said to the professor, that he was the culprit of her pain and if it was not for him what had happened with Naruto would never have happened, he had not leave her. Hinata was deeply grateful with Krupal for all he had done for her; and his oath, that he never was going to abandon her whatever were the circumstances, made her feel happy, but more than anything protected.

They stayed there for a while until, approximately at eight o'clock, they returned to the college. As before, Krupal escorted her to the residence.

"Have a goodnight", the man wished to her.

"You too", Hinata answered, smiling to him.

She stood on her tiptoes to kiss Krupal in the cheek, and then she went quickly to her room as an excited girl who had done something forbidden to her. That night she slept pleasurably, having dreams full of beautiful images.

The next morning she went to class with a sensation of reinvigorated calm. August Blunt gave the lesson with his usual energy, meanwhile Krupal, behind him, wrote out everything he was explaining in the board, giving the students the opportunity to write in their notebooks what Blunt was saying with more common words. When the class finished, she rejected Sakura's invitation to go to have lunch with her and Sasuke, and waited until Krupal was out of the classroom to follow him. She still had to return to him the jacket he had given her the day before; besides, Hinata wanted to be with him.

"Thank you", Krupal said to her after she had returned to him the coat, meanwhile they were in the aisle that led to the administrative offices of the Medical School. "You look today even better than yesterday."

"I feel a lot better", Hinata answered, smiling to him.

"I am glad to hear that!" Krupal exclaimed, also smiling to her. "Would you like to go with me to my office and have some tea?"

"I would love it!"

Hinata and Krupal were walking in the direction of his office when suddenly an unknown voice stopped them:

"Are you Hinata Hyuga?"

Hinata turned on her heels, observing surprised the person who had talked. They were coming toward them a man, wearing a gray suit which had seen better times, with a face like the bad cops who were in the movies, and another, a little off the other one, who was wearing a police uniform.

"Yes, I am", she answered. "Who are you?"

"I am the detective David Craig", the man with the gray suit answered, showing her his police badge. "I am here to make you some questions, if you do not mind."

"Tell me how I can help you."

"Do you know a young man called Patrick O'Beirne?"

Hinata nodded. Had it been finally discovered Patrick's whereabouts?

She let know the detective about her worry, and he said:

"So do you know about his disappearance?"

"Yes. A police informed me about his disappearance", Hinata confessed.

"And anyone have told you that mister O'Beirne have been murdered?"

The young woman drew in her face an expression of horror. Patrick was dead! But, how? Who had killed him? Craig took out of his jacket a photography, and he showed it to her. In it was Patrick. He was clearly dead; and Hinata did not stop noticing the weird eye with a vertical pupil that he had drawn in his forehead. She had to take Krupal's arm to not faint.

"Who have killed him? And what is the meaning of this strange eye he have in the forehead?" the Hyuga asked with raspy voice.

"The police know few details about the murderer. About the sign in the forehead, it supposedly represents the signature of a killer I have been chasing vehemently: the red-eyed monster."

Hinata let out a groan of horror.

"What brings me here, miss Hyuga", Craig continued, "is that, according to my reports, you have opened a case for defamation against mister O'Beirne. Can you explain to me the reasons you have had to do such a thing?"

The young woman recovered a little to put in order her ideas. She told the detective what had happened weeks ago with the matter of the photographs, the way (tweaking some details) in which she had discovered that Patrick was behind the defamation extended against her, and the decision she made, helped by a lawyer recommended by a relative, to build a case against him; but how, in the day the trial was dated, when she was waiting to put an end to the nightmare, a police who worked for the courthouse informed to her and to her lawyer of Patrick's disappearance.

"I do not know anything more. I do not know who could kill him or what causes might have taken him to be murdered. I only was with him for few weeks. I do not know very much about him. His friends, who are studying in this same college, could inform you better than I."

"Thank you for your collaboration, miss Hyuga", Craig said, taking out a notebook. "Could you please tell me the name of your lawyer, his phone number or email, and for what lawyer's firm he works? And if you would kindly give me your direction and phone number I would be very pleased."

Hinata gave him the few details she knew about the lawyer, as his name and phone number. As she was not sure if the lawyer was working in a firm in particular, she said the only thing she knew: he worked for the Uchiha family. Craig frowned with surprise, but did not say anything about the matter, writing in his notebook the information the Hyuga had given him. Also she said to him her direction and phone number, and the detective wrote them down as well.

"Thank you very much, miss Hyuga. If I have more information I will let you know. Have my card if you have forgotten any detail and you want to tell me about it."

"Thank you", Hinata answered, grabbing the detective's card and putting it in pants pocket.

She felt calmer when she observed how the two policemen were retreating, but the peace of mind did not last long. By a fortuity of destiny, or at least she took it as so, David Craig stopped suddenly in front of Krupal, seeing him as if it was the first time he noticed his presence. Hinata realized the detective was looking the professor as a boy looks a Christmas toy he have been waiting for long time.

"You have a very particular color of eyes, mister…" the detective spoke.

"Krupal Randhawa", the professor answered, extending his hand towards the other man; and since the policeman not returned his greeting, he withdrew it. "You are going to find interesting that my eyes color is a legacy of my grandmother."

And Hinata observed that, as he had done with her when she had asked about his particular tone of eyes, Krupal showed the photography of his lovely grandmother to the detective.

But Craig did not see to fall under the spell of the picture, because he said with a cold and serious voice:

"Do you know what other person have similar eyes as you, mister Randhawa? The red-eyed monster!"

Hinata moaned again, terrified for hearing the nickname of the murderer who had appeared so frequently in the news, and which only four days ago had killed his sixth victim.

Krupal frowned and saw the detective with an angry expression.

"You are not saying that I am the murderer, are you not?" he inquired.

"I could not affirm it!" Craig excused himself. "This is the first time in my life I see a man with such color of eyes in the same county where all the red-eyed monster's murders have been committed. Do you not think it is a great coincidence?"

Krupal, for Hinata's horror, did not say anything. Why did he not defend himself against such infamous accusations?

"Could you accompany me to the police department?" the detective said.

"Only because you have a hunch that I am the killer?" Krupal asked with a sarcastic smile.

"You can call your lawyer if you want. It is only going to be a small formalism", Craig said, smiling as well.

It was the fight of two wills. Hinata was wishing with all her heart that Krupal win it; but, for her surprise, instead of refusing, he finally accepted, and very willingly:

"If you insist! I do not want to have problems with the police."

He had said it with a relaxed and mocking tone, astonishing her.

"But you have to give me some minutes to call my lawyer."

"Perfectly. You have five minutes to put all your affairs in order. If not, I will be forced to use the handcuffs", the detective said.

Randhawa smiled to the policeman and then walked away from him. Hinata followed him. She had understood very well what was going to happen in a few minutes and she did not like it at all. The police was going to put Krupal in jail for something he had not done! They were going to force him to abandon her! Like a drug addict prohibited of having its favorite drug, Hinata began to shake and sweat cold. Tears not take long to go down of her eyes.

She hugged Krupal by the back when he was finishing talking with his lawyer. He put the phone in his pocket and then forced her to separate from him.

But the lack of contact did not last long, because he, forcing her to turn around, put his hands over her cheeks.

"Calm down, my beautiful Hinata, I am going to be fine", he said.

"You are going to abandon me! And you promised you are going to stay with me no matter what! I do not want you go away from me!" Hinata exclaimed, her voice altered by the crying.

Krupal hugged her tightly and kissed her all over the face.

"My poor little darling, do not suffer", the man said with sweet voice, while he caressed her hair. "It will be just a few hours. Then I am going to be back with you, you beautiful, I swear."

"Mister Randhawa, your five minutes are over", Craig interrupted them. "Should I approach with the handcuffs?"

Hinata separated herself from Krupal against her will.

He kissed her forehead before walking away from her; but he was stopped suddenly by Hinata, who had taken him by the arm. She did not want Krupal to walk away from her.

"I must go, little one, or this is going to get ugly."

"I do not want", Hinata rebelled.

But the professor separated from her despite her efforts; but before he walked away, he came closer to her and kissed her in the lips, and Hinata was so astonished that she let go his arm. She stopped crying in that instant, instead letting out small hiccups that shook her chest.

"Swear you are coming back", she made him promise.

"I will, darling", Krupal said.

As to certify his promise, he kissed her again, and Hinata ensured to retain the man's essence in her lips before he walked away from her.

While she saw how Krupal was moving away to reunite with the policemen, she had to lean against a wall to not faint. From there she could hear professor Blunt's complaints, which most likely must have seen his assistant and the police officers when they were going in front of the administrative offices of the Medical School, angry by what he was witnessing.

"You will see!" Hinata heard the man saying. "The dean is going to know this!"

For the next forty eight hours Hinata lived a real hell. Few things in her life had occasioned her such sense of unease as the one she was feeling by knowing that Krupal was far from her, in the police hands, without the possibility to fulfill the promise he had done to her that he was not going to abandon her whichever were the circumstances. Neither the recent wound Naruto had done to her made her feel so empty of something. It was like she was a fish out of the water, dying slowly.

She had obtained some emotional stability thanks to Krupal. He had been able fill the empty spaces in her heart left by the Uzumaki, making her feel again attached to something. Was she going to lose that precious balance just in the moment she had achieved it?

No one of her closest friends, especially Sakura, stopped noticing her unstable frame of mind, but all they attributed that it was due to what had happened with Naruto days before. Sakura, more than anyone, had been with her in such dire hours, giving her love and words of support, putting her friendly hand over her shoulder while she promised that everything was going to be alright.

Neither the good news of the lawyer, who called her, during the second day of Krupal's absence, to inform that due Patrick's death the judge, designated to handle her case for defamation, said she had won, made her feel better. Hinata was not even touched for taking back what weeks before had moved her against her ex-boyfriend: her good name. The images still circulating through Internet were deleted from the cyberspace; and reluctantly Patrick's family had promised to pay her for the perjury.

"Do you see how everything is going fine?" Sakura said to her that day, after she had received the news from the lawyer.

"Yes", Hinata responded, trying to emulate a smile.

But her happiness was not going to be complete until Krupal was back with her. What had happened to him? What was he taking so long? The Hyuga began to despair.

However the third day, when the despair was swirling over her head and was hugging her forcefully, her restlessness turned into the most pristine happiness. She was leaving the classroom after the morning class and was walking through the hall, which led to the administrative offices of the Medical School, when what she saw made her stop abruptly. There, at some meters of distant, was Krupal, looking well and happy. He was talking lively with two other School's professors. Hinata was so pleased to see him that she did something unthinkable for her: acting by impulse, she ran to where the teacher was and, without caring by the people there, she hugged him strongly.

"You are back! You are back!" she exclaimed, excited.

Hinata did care very little about what the other professors, or Krupal himself, were thinking of her. The only thing that matter to her was the comforting sensation in her chest by knowing, by feeling with her own hands that Krupal was with her once more.

Far from separate of her, the man put his arms over her shoulders, and Hinata pressed the arms around him. She did not stop hugging him even when the students of different Medicine years converged on the hall, witnessing the scene against their wills.

The young woman little did know the problem that public display of affection would entail in the near future.

But Hinata was very far of thinking about the consequences; and when the hall was empty, when the couple could find a moment of solicitude, the young woman took the professor's hand and drove him, rather dragged him, to one of the many green zones that the college had. The area where the Hyuga had driven the man was covered with trees, under which various bench were waiting for the people to seat in them. The place was empty, and Hinata thanked it.

Once they were seated in one of the benches, Hinata began to ask Krupal the reason for his long absence. She wanted to know what had happened, if the police had hurt him in some way or another. Krupal scratched his head and smiled, with a smile which denoted the shame he felt that the young woman had worried so much for him.

"It was just a routine matter", the man answered. "They took me some DNA samples and asked me a lot of questions; and as that stubborn detective, that David Craig, had insisted in having me held until my alibi of Saturday night was confirmed by someone (something that would have been impossible since I was alone in my home that night), I had to wait two days until the regulatory forty-eight hours passed, and for that stupid detective to run out of excuses to retain me there, before being released. That is everything that had happened! And you, my darling Hinata, did something interesting happened to you?" Krupal asked to her after a pause.

Hinata told him what had happened with the trial she had opened against Patrick, how everything had concluded after the news of his death, and Krupal showed happy for her.

"It looks like everything is going well for us", Krupal said, with a joyful expression.

"It seems!" the young woman answered with a happy tone of voice.

But, as Hinata had reasoned and checked by herself, her life was a balance, in which when one of it scales were leaning more than the other, the one that was down took revenge against the favored. Once more, when things began to fit in its places and the Hyuga felt again a little more in peace with her, a sudden and fatal event was waiting for her around the corner.

But this time it was not Naruto, but Sakura. Hinata knew her friend did not like Krupal. She already had shown it by the contemptuous way in which she spoke of him and the manner she disapproved her meetings with professor; but she never had imagined that something of the capacity of what was going to happen would occur sometime.

In her wobbly world by the pain, Sakura and Krupal were the only pillars in which she was supported. Life had taken already one of the more important supports for her, Naruto, and now it was trying to take away her friend.

When Hinata returned to her residence, she found Sakura sitting down in one of the armchairs in the living room, with her arms crossed and sourly expression. She intuited that she had been waiting for her, because in the moment the door closed behind her, the pink-haired stood and came closer to her.

"Can you explain what is going on?" she demanded with furious voice.

Hinata saw her strangely, without understanding what she wanted to say.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"About your relationship with professor Randhawa!" Sakura answered, unable to contain anymore her rage. "I saw you hugging him in the aisle, after class! And I was not the only! Tell me, what the hell is happening here?!"

The Hyuga stepped back, surprised by Sakura's sudden attack.

"Krupal and I are friends, Sakura, just that" Hinata answered, shy by the cries.

"Just friends? As if I could believe that! When you were in each other's arms you did not look exactly like friends! Tell me Hinata, are you in love with him?"

Hinata hold the breath, with an amazement expression, after hearing the question. Was she in love with Krupal? Certainly, the man had appeared when her life was going through a moment very changeable and complicated, and had snuck inside her heart, but she never had thought about how complex or deep her feelings for Krupal were. He had been always kind with her, loving and understanding, giving a helping hand to her in the most pressing situations. Just a few days ago she had been languishing in despair for his absence. Even they had kissed, and not one, but many times! Could it be said that she loved Krupal? She did not feel for him the same sentiments she had felt for Naruto, with the same intensity and strength, but even so she did not bear the idea that something or someone took him away from her. One thing she was sure was that Krupal made her happy, very happy, and she did not want to leave that happiness.

She let Sakura know this.

"Krupal makes me very happy, Sakura, and I will not allow you put me aside of this happiness."

"Well, this is what I am going to do! I do not want you to see again Krupal Randhawa!" Sakura said, frowning.

The demand took her such by surprise that Hinata did for second time something very unusual in her: she lost her temper and her peacefulness, and got so angry that her blood began to boil inside her veins.

"Are you demanding me what?!" the Hyuga cried out. "How you dare!"

"I am your friend, and I am doing this because I care for you, Hinata! Professor Randhawa is older than you! You barely know something about him, while he, surely, knows everything about you! Do not you think it is minimally suspicious? Think about what have happened with young women as you, shy and pure as you, and how they had finished! They were killed!"

The realization of what Sakura had wanted to say made Hinata drown with her rage. Her face got red and her hands clenched into fist, which were shaking without end thanks to the fury that was moving her. How could Sakura say to her such horrible things? How could Sakura be so cruel?

"Do you also think Krupal is the red-eyed monster?!" she asked, rather shout.

"I think it and I say it! I knew what had happened to him, that the police arrested him for being suspect!"

"But they freed him!"

"And what with that?" Sakura said with a sarcastic voice. "For some reason the police had taken him!"

Hinata shook the hands in front of her, protecting herself against her companion's hurtful words, but also asking her to stop. She could not believe that someone she had considered her best friend was hurting her and putting into question her capacity to discern what was good or bad for her. She had heard enough. She was not willing to continue enduring Sakura's abuse to Krupal.

She took her belongings, that she had put in one of the armchairs, and went to the door, which gave access to the residence; but before leaving, she said to Sakura:

"Do you know why I think you are doing this? You do not care for my well-being, but for me falling in love with Krupal. You have worked so hard for Naruto and me to be together that you are afraid your efforts are going to mean nothing if I change the direction of my feelings. Inclusive I am sure that, even though you do not want to confess it, you have forgiven Naruto for what had happened last week, and both of you are working behind me so we can be together, so I can forgive him. Am I wrong?"

The way Sakura was looking at her, with that disbelief expression so characteristic of the people caught red handed, made her confirm her suspicions, and Hinata smiled. How? When? In which moment Sakura had forgiven Naruto and decided to help him?

"I found him this morning, after class, and he admitted he was sorry for what he had said to you, and because of that I decided to help him to recover your trust", Sakura confessed.

Hinata smiled once more. Could there be more barefacedness than this, that the same person who had shouted to Naruto that if he came closer to them again he was going to get into trouble was helping him now? Hinata did not know if to feel hurt or angry.

"I see, and you are in all your right to help him since you are friends", she said. "But I want you to give Naruto a message from me: I will never forgive him, you are listening to me! I will never forgive him. What he has done to me left me deeply hurt and Krupal has been the only person with the enough courage to pick up the pieces left of me on the ground, and he is putting them together the best he can. You know what? Perhaps you are right. Maybe, without realizing it, I have fallen in love with Krupal."

Sakura paled.

"Hinata…" she murmured.

"For the sake of our friendship, Sakura, I do not want to touch this matter again", Hinata warned. "My relation with Krupal is none of your business. I already have lost someone important to me, I do not want to lose anyone more. Please, do not force me to cut our friendship bonds."

That was the last thing Hinata said before walking away of the room. She felt deeply hurt, especially by knowing so suddenly what had orchestrated behind her. But she did not show how much in pain she was until she walked through the thick night of the campus.

By an act perhaps magical, her steps took her exactly under the tree in which she had met Krupal the first time; and it looked like it was a usual behavior in the man to visit that place because Hinata found him there. He was sitting in one of the branches, and when the young woman was walking near him, he reached the ground level and came closer to her.

"Hinata", he called, putting a hand over her shoulder.

As soon as Hinata felt the comforting touch, all the weight of her troubles turned into tears. She began to cry profusely. Krupal brought her up to him and hugged her tightly against his body. Hinata buried her face in the man's chest, grabbing his shirt with both hands, twisting the fabric as the pain she was feeling increased.

"What is happening, little one?" the man asked.

Hinata did not answer his question; but made him promise:

"Swear to me that you never… will abandon me… that you are going to be always… with me…"

She scarcely could talk because of the tears.

Krupal hugged her more tightly, and he said to her ear:

"I swear I am not going to abandon you, that I never will leave you, and anyone who wants to separate me from you will have to do it by force. We will be always together."

Krupal kissed her forehead; and Hinata clung to his oath as a drowning man to a life preserver. The words said by the man were exactly what she needed to hear.

* * *

Three heads peeked around the corner of a building, which lead to one of the college's gardens. In the place they were looking at a couple were sitting in a bench, pertly talking.

Those three heads were composed by one with black hair, the other with pink hair and the last one blond, and the people attached to them corresponded to the names of Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno and Naruto Uzumaki.

Especially the last one was looking at the couple, at some meters from him, with malice. Those two who were sitting in the bench were Hinata and Krupal, and seeing them together generated in the blond an urgent need to approach them, to demand the Medical professor to not come closer to Hinata never more, to grab the young woman by the wrist and to take her away from there, in spite of he had to do it by force.

"I can not believe they are together once more!" Sakura shouted out, trying to keep her voice as low as possible to not attract the attention of the people they were observing. "After everything I said to her! Does she not understand it is dangerous?!"

"How are you so sure he is the killer?" Sasuke murmured.

"I see it with my own eyes!" the pink-haired answered, with a voice which claimed that she had the whole truth. "If only we could separate them!"

"I will do it", Naruto said with a threatening voice, who, having enough of the scene in front of him, put a feet after the other, and began to walk in the direction of the couple with decided steps.

"Do not be so stupid!" the Uchiha exclaimed, pulling the arm of his friend in the right moment.

Really Sasuke had pulled the blond in the right time, because in the immediate moment in which Naruto was walking towards them, the couple turned their heads in the direction where the three friends were hiding, almost discovering them.

The three of them put their backs against the building wall, from where they were peeking, holding their breaths and waiting with crossed fingers that neither Hinata nor Krupal had realized their presence.

After the minutes passed and everything looked in calm, Sasuke grabbed his friend and girlfriend by their arms and took them away from there, where their voices could not be heard. Some distance ahead he let them go.

Then he saw them, frowning, and said to them in a scolding tone:

"Enough with you two! Sakura, I understand you are worried for Hinata, but in the way you are trying to separate her of that man you are only harming everything. Hinata seems very infatuated with him, and meanwhile you can not find a final and viable solution to make her open her eyes, as your desire, I truly recommend to you to desist in what you are doing right now. And you", he continued, pointing out at Naruto, "stop being a damn senseless jealous! Do you really think Hinata is going to forgive you if she finds out you are spying on her? You will obtain the opposite of what you propose: that she hates you even more."

Naruto and Sakura lowered their gaze, as two children scolded by their father.

"Sometimes it is impossible with you two", the Uchiha added, sighing and shaking the head.

Naruto, more than Sakura, felt hurt by the scold, and had to admit that Sasuke was right.

Life has sometimes very strange ways of acting. In the same moment Hinata weaved her life more and more with Krupal, Naruto realized the big mistake he had committed talking in such cruel way to the Hyuga weeks before, repenting from his error, and firmly wishing Hinata's forgiveness.

The Uzumaki had been accused many times of being an idiot, and to not understand at time what was going on or what the people had said to him; and even though those comments made him angry and made him defend of others swashbuckling, this time he must admit he had blundered, and in a big way.

Certainly, he had arrived to the matter of the photographs very late, and what he had seen made him angry. But the issue was that, for his defense, he had been carried away by the ideas Vanessa, now his ex-girlfriend, had gotten into his head. He had discovered very late how much the woman had been controlling his life. When Naruto had said such disparaging words against Hinata he had done it mainly by the things Vanessa had said to him about the Hyuga. It was like in the moment he had seen the photographs all the gossips and the bad rumors his ex-girlfriend had hinted were confirmed; and the Uzumaki had not measured the weight that his words would have or how much they were going to affect his relationship with Hinata.

But with the passage of the time, when the tempers cooled and the clarity returned to his mind, Naruto felt fatal, more with Hinata than with him. How could he have been so stupid? Hinata was his friend since they were child, and always had been friendly and affectionate with him, forgiving him many things that much of his friends not overlooked and letting he be as he was, even though how irritating he could be sometimes. For a moment of rage, poisoned as he was by Vanessa's ideas, he had launched himself into the abyss without thinking, and with him he had taken Hinata and everything she meant to him.

He wanted back her friendship, and he was wishing do it before things would worsen between them, before someone who was not him fill the empty space in her heart.

Certainly, he wanted her friendship; but he had realized that what really he wished was something even more important and bigger of what he yearned initially, especially when Sasuke said to him something unexpected: the true feelings Hinata professed for him.

"WHAT?" Naruto had exclaimed when he heard the shocking truth from his friend.

"What I am telling you, you moron. Hinata has been in love with you since long time, better say for years, for what Sakura has told me and for what I have seen myself, and you have ruined everything with your big mouth. If you do not believe me, ask Sakura. By the way, you are going to need her forgiveness, because I am quite sure she is the only one who can help you get closer to Hinata and to gain her clemency."

Naruto had not heard the last part, although in a mysterious way he had processed it. His mind was in other part, in that strong slap Life had given him in the form of Sasuke and his confession. Did Hinata love him? Really? In spite of his recent relation with Vanessa, she never had made him feel that fire, at the same time so exciting and calm, that was kindled in his chest like a torch when he understood the truth behind the Uchiha's words.

And through his mind had passed all those moments in which Hinata had been really friendly and kind with him, as that time in third grade when she had given him a ointment for his wounds after he had fought with a boy who had insulted him; or that time she had shared her lunch with him, even letting him devour everything in the plate, a day he had forgot his food in his house and was starving; as that time when was heavily raining, and Naruto had forgotten his umbrella, she had accompanied him to his house, although they lived in two distant points of the town.

But he also remembered those moments in which Hinata had left a very deep impression in him, as that time when she was reprimanded by her father in front of the high school where they had studied, causing that the blond, angry by the way she was being treat, came between the two, bringing upon him the rage of Hiashi Hyuga, and the manner how Hinata had asked her father to not fight with the Uzumaki; as that time when his mother was sick and Hinata had offered to help him, even though she did not have any responsibility with his family; or that time when he was joking with her, saying that the last thing he would wish to do before dying was to have a ramen bowl (his favorite food), and she had answered, in that shy way of her, that the last thing she would wish to do before dying was spent her last minutes with him.

Hinata had been in every important moment in his life, sharing with him pleasant moments and misfortunes, and Naruto only had answered to her attentions with a friendship with an excess of carelessness, and later with some rude words said in a moment of rage. It was incredible that after all she had tolerated by his fault, the young woman could profess for him such a beautiful feeling as a pure love, which had overcome the barriers of time and patience. More than ever he was sure he wanted her forgiveness, and he would not let her escape again of his life.

But, as Sasuke had said, to come closer to Hinata he had to resort to Sakura's help; and although the blond Uzumaki feared by his physical integrity, not only because the pink head was angry with him, but also because when she lost control of her temper his friend like to see him as a punching bag, even so he came closer to the moody woman.

"What do you want, Naruto?" Sakura had asked him when he found her, watching him scowling.

"I want to ask you for your forgiveness and to help me regain Hinata' trust", the blond had answered, afraid of her reaction.

"Do not I explain to you what would happen if you come closer to me or to Hinata?" the pink hair inquired, frowning.

"Believe me I would not be here if it was not for a good reason! I know I made a big mistake insulting Hinata and putting mad at you. But, please, I just want to recover her trust. You are the only one who can help me. I realized about her feelings for me, and how much happy they make me. I am so happy that she loves me. I… I am beginning… to feel something very strong for her… Please…"

Naruto was interrupted unexpectedly by the sudden hug Sakura gave him.

"Hallelujah!" the young woman exclaimed. "Until you have realized! Until you have opened your eyes! Really, I do not care if you realized it by yourself or if Sasuke told you. The important thing is that you know! And you are beginning to feel something for her! Oh, my God, I am so happy!"

She had begun to jump by happiness, applauding and smiling so much that it had looked like her mouth would stay stagnant in that rictus.

"But there are two problems we have to solve before you can earn her trust", Sakura had continued, suddenly stopping with her show of joy, talking with a serious voice. "First, you have to break up with your girlfriend."

"You will be surprised, but I already have finished with Vanessa", the Uzumaki had informed.

The blond had liked his friend's surprised expression.

"Really?" Sakura had asked.

"Yes", Naruto had answered, nodding. "What is the other problem?"

It was when Sakura had done something that surprised him a lot, but soon he had understood the reason behind her behavior. She had grabbed him by the wrist and had dragged him to a place less traveled of the campus, where, sitting down in a bench under a tree, a couple was talking. He was astounded when he recognized Hinata, but the man that was with her he had never seen him in his life: orange hair, brown-skinned and strong aspect, he was seeing Hinata intensely.

Sakura pointed out to the unknown individual.

"He is the assistant of my tenured professor, a man named Krupal Randhawa. You may be wondering why I pointed out to him, and you are going to find the reason very surprising. I do not know how or when, but this man has dabbled in Hinata's life more than you could imagine. This afternoon I found them embracing each other. It seems that he had been taken by the police to be interrogated, relating him with the red-eyed monster. Can you believe it?! The case is that he had been absent from college by two days, but when he returned, the first thing Hinata did was hug him. I believe he is inspiring love in her."

Immediately Naruto had felt angry. An animosity never felt by anyone had built in his heart against this Krupal. That man was his enemy in the race to win Hinata's heart, and Naruto would not allow him to continue trying to conquer the Hyuga.

"And what we are supposed to do?" the Uzumaki asked his friend.

"To do everything we could so Hinata separated of him. Allow me to speak with her", Sakura said. "I need to clarify certain points about her relation with this man; and I will try that her anger for you disappears. Leave it in my hands!"

But things had not gone exactly as Sakura had planned. As she had explained to him, Hinata did not want to listen anything against Krupal, which made it clear how much infatuated she was with him.

It did not surprised him to know that Hinata had discovered the real reason Sakura had between hands (he knew that Hinata was very intelligent), but what astonished and hurt him was the message she had left for him with Sakura. Hinata, according to her, would never forgive him.

However if in something were different Naruto and Hinata, besides their ways of being (hyperactive him and shy her), it was the manner they faced adversities. When Hinata had knew that Naruto had a girlfriend, she had preferred to step back by the Uzumaki's happiness, although such decision would make her suffer. But when Naruto recognized how much enchanted Krupal had Hinata with him, he knew he was not going to let him act so easily, that he was going to combat for her with the entire arsenal he had. The young woman was going to forgive him and would return at his side.

Naruto was going to fight for Hinata, for _his_ Hinata.

* * *

Here is the chapter. As always if you like the chapter leave me a review. The next chapter is going to be interesting, I promise! See you in the next chapter!


	6. Chapter VI

**The red-eyed monster**

 _A series of murders against young and innocent's women put in check the police and the society. Without clues or any links to lead the police to the whereabouts of this cruel monster, can Hinata Hyuga be saved in time before her name join the list of the victims of the so call red-eyed demon?_

 **Disclaimer:** Naruto and its characters don't belong to me, but Masashi Kishimoto.

Sorry for my english, it's the first time I write in english. I beg your pardon for my grammar errors.

* * *

 **Chapter VI**

One of the things that distinguished Naruto since he was a little boy was to fight for what he wanted and to never give up until to achieve success. For this reason many of the people who knew him labeled him as an obstinate and extremely stubborn person. But, as always he used to say or think when he heard this kind of comments against him, the Uzumaki liked very much that aspect of his personality, and did not matter at all if the others did not approve such attribute of him.

He had had many opportunities to put into practice this way of life – as one time his mother had threatened him to not let him go with her and his godfather to a holiday trip if he did not have good grades (it was not as Naruto was a bad student, it was just that his brain had a terrible habit of "to disappear" when it was required a mental effort from it), making him to focus so hard in his studies that he got one of the best degrees of his class -, but until now he never had to employ such quality of his personality to get something so significant for him as Hinata's trust.

When Sakura had told him about the decision of the young woman of to not forgive him for his horrible words, and about the influence that Krupal Randhawa had on her, it did not take long for Naruto to establish as objective to recover Hinata's trust and to take her away from that man, which gave him so much bad feeling.

But Hinata was not a thing he could take and carry with him. She was a hurt and fragile person, who at the slightest mistake would leave his life forever.

Hinata was like a dying flower, which if it was pull too hard from the soil it could be crushed and killed irretrievably. Naruto did not want to make a false move, did not want to say a wrong word or to do an inappropriate step, driving the Hyuga away from him forever. And the problem was even bigger when the Uzumaki did not stand out for having a romantic or tender side, or to comprehend how to get closer to a person so fragile as the young woman was, and less by having the ability to act with delicacy and to select carefully the words and every move he was going to say or do.

Sakura did understand this very well; who, after some days of accepting to help him to recover Hinata's trust, was seeing with worry how close her friend and Krupal were with the passing time. If Naruto did not do something soon, Hinata would be trapped irredeemably in the cobweb of that damn monster of Krupal Randhawa. The woman was worried even more by the suspicion she had about the real identity of the professor Blunt's assistant, and for her to separate her friend from so dangerous man was a matter of urgent necessity. Because of that she was more than disposed to help the Uzumaki in an affair where the sensibility was the most important thing, a characteristic more common in women than men.

But Sakura was not the only one who wanted to help him. Sasuke, Ino, Sai, and how many friends the Uzumaki and the Hyuga had in common, which had waited for so long to see them as a couple, had to offer to Naruto some advice or warning to achieve success in the matter he intended to undertake.

They made him know all these advices an afternoon, in which everyone where in the living room of the residence the Uzumaki shared with Sasuke, and another guy:

"You must make her feel very special, that you really care for her", a young man named Shikamaru had commented, a smarty genius for whom Naruto felt a great affection.

"Give her flowers!" Ino had exclaimed. "Hinata loves flowers!"

"What you have to do is to stop harassing her, as you are doing right now", Sasuke had advised.

"Maybe you have to give her a dog that makes her remember you, one that will be very exasperating!" a man named Kiba had said, a friend of Hinata of many years.

"Or maybe a strange and exotic insect", Shino had reasoned, another friend of Hinata, who felt a much cherished love by insects of all kinds.

"What you have to do is to follow the recommendations of one of this manuals about how to recover a person's trust", Sai had said.

"What you have to do is to show to her that you love her as much as she loves you", Sakura had shouted.

But Naruto realized, after all the confusion that had occasioned in him so many recommendations, that, for more good that were the intentions of the others, what really counted was what came out from his heart. Naruto did not have to approach to Hinata as Sai or Shino would do (and neither draw away from her as Sasuke had suggested), but he had to ask for her forgiveness as Naruto Uzumaki. And if Naruto Uzumaki was good for something was for the floriculture.

Since he was a little boy he had had a great avocation for to cultivate and to take care of plants of diverse kinds. There was in his house a beautiful garden maintained by himself; and in college he was caring of a pair of plants he had brought from his home. If anyone had the opportunity to visit his room, in the residence he shared with his friends, it could be seen, in the disorder of the place, the aforementioned plants, protected by a special net from the extreme cold of the winter, which Naruto had put himself to defend them from the weather. Those two showed the amount of care and love that the Uzumaki put into them.

The comprehension of his hobby originated in his mind a brilliant idea. If, as he had exposed previously, Hinata was like a dying flower, what he had to do to bring her to life again? Simply put flower in a flowerpot with fresh and new soil and take care of it with attention and patience, watering it and eliminating the pests that could interfere in its healing, until it was healthy once more.

Patience and care were the keys to bring Hinata again to his life! If Naruto was patience and strove in "cultivate" little by little his relation with the young woman, he would see it to grow once more, and Hinata was going to return with him and never was going to leave his side. Even he would erase that pest over her, the one that carried the name of Krupal Randhawa.

But meanwhile Hinata was very far to be decided to forgive the Uzumaki. It was to lie to herself to say she did not felt something for Naruto, but the wound he had occasioned her had put near the limit of the cliff her feelings for the blond. They were frozen as a flower frosty by the winter ice, and she was not disposed to pardon him and a lot less trust him again, or got closer to him with friendly intentions, as it was Sakura's desire.

In that way she let it know it to Krupal, who was accompanying her in that moment:

"No! I will not forgive him!"

And she obtained that he sighed once more.

"Sometimes you can be stubborn when you propose it, little one", he said.

Hinata crossed the arms and frowned, feeling even more hurt and misunderstood. Why everyone was insisting to convince her to forgive Naruto? First Sakura and now Krupal, or at least she believed so. She did not know to what extent the man thought in that way because he was worried about her well-being or simply because he wanted to make her feel comprehended, interpreting in a strange – and, according to her, wrong – way the real desire of her heart.

In that moment the Hyuga was in the professor's apartment, who had invited her to have dinner. The night she had quarreled with Sakura and later had run away from the residence she shared with the woman, finally crying in Krupal's arms, he had taken her to his room, in an apartment building that all college teachers had to their disposition to stay during the academic year. Hinata had passed the night there; and now the place had been a new space where the student and the professor could gather.

There she had found another incredible secret of the man. Because he had been living alone during much time, Krupal had had to learn how to cook to keep the stomach full, and Hinata discovered, amazed, that he did it in a splendid way. Krupal cooked like an expert chef; and Hinata had gotten a free pass to his house, there in the university, to accompany him in the meals (or any night she would like to stay in the place to sleep), but above all in those moments when the tension produced by Sakura and she, after the fight they had starred few days ago, reached unbearable limits.

Hinata did not wished that, in one of the few places in which she could find a shelter for her grief, Krupal insisted without end in a topic she did not even want to think about. If it was not for the delicious plate of food in front of her, promising that as soon as she savor it she was going to see the paradise, surely she would have risen from the table and stepped out from there.

But Krupal did not only have an impressive way of making her to desist of to flee of what was bothering her, but also the ability to get into her head as a little worm and change her mind, or at least to make her to think again about a taken decision. There, where Sakura's words had not caused an impression on her, Krupal made her meditate if she had taken the best conclusion about Naruto, in the same way he had done when he had suggested that she had to find a boyfriend and Hinata had followed his advice to the letter (even though the consequences had not been the expected).

As two well educated person, they respected the meal and did not talk about anything while they were eating, enjoying their meal in silence; but as soon as they finished, meanwhile Krupal was cleaning the table and later was washing the dishes, Hinata had had enough of keeping her doubts for her, and it escaped from her mouth:

"Do you really think I must forgive Naruto?"

Krupal saw her from the corner of his eye with curiosity, but he did not answer immediately. He decided better to finish cleaning all the objects he had dirtied; and while he was doing it, Hinata had the impression that he was smiling in a sarcastic way, but later she ascribed it as a trick of her imagination.

When he finished his labor, the man was quick to respond, and he did it in this way:

"Do you still like him, do not you? It is useless to deny to me, and to deny to you, your feelings. You are hurt. Yes, profoundly hurt. But what you used to feel for him have only transformed, it did not erase from your heart. Everyone make a mistake, and if he searches for your forgiveness, I do not see why you have to reject his request. But, of course, is your decision, not mine."

Even though a small part of her admitted that Krupal was right, the other one, the one that was still hurt and angry for what Naruto had done to her, did not want to think in the slightest possibility to forgive the blond.

"Why are you doing this?" Hinata asked, after some minutes. "Why do you take so much interest on me?"

"Because I want your happiness, Hinata", Krupal answered with simplicity. "You asked me to support you, and looking for what makes you happy I am doing it."

Hinata said, blushing:

"And if my happiness is not with him? What if my happiness is with you?"

Krupal smiled to her.

"I am extremely honored to hear that, Hinata", the man said. "I feel something very important for you too."

Hinata blushed even more.

"But we both know that your happiness is more with Naruto than with me. According to what you have said to me, you were friends since you were little. Are you going to lose such long friendship because of a misunderstood? Your ex-boyfriend, now dead, wanted to harm you. Everything that have happened between you two has been for his fault, and to not allow you to forgive Naruto – if he searches for your forgiveness – is letting him win, is granting him the triumph where he was waiting to achieve it. Hinata, please, think about your happiness."

The truth behind Krupal's words had fallen on her like a cold shower. Hinata did not know if to feel moved by the interest the man was showing in making her happy or if to shake from head to toe, influenced by what he had said. And, even though the last time she had heard his advice the things had not gone precisely well for her, Hinata promised to herself that she was going to think with calm about his message.

"Sometimes I do not know if you are too much good for me", the Hyuga murmured.

"Do you think like that after everything you have experienced by my fault?" the man inquired.

The young woman nodded, sure of what she had said.

"Your trust flatters and thrills me very much", Krupal said. "And do not worry, it is the job of a friend to be to its friend."

"You are a really strange friend! I have never kissed one of my friends in the lips!" Hinata exclaimed, smiling.

"That is because we have certain… benefices", the man answered, smiling to her in a cunning way, and winking.

Hinata blushed again, especially because after what he had said, Krupal had kissed her in the cheek, putting his lips very close of the corner of her mouth. If she only would have moved her face some centimeters, her lips would have collided with his irredeemably.

"Are you going to stay tonight?" Krupal asked.

"No", Hinata answered. "I need to think, and I can only think clearly when I am in a familiar place to me."

"Then let me accompany you to your residence."

That night Hinata slept little and badly; better say, she did not sleep at all. Unable to rest, she tossed and turned thinking in Krupal's words, in the possibility to open her heart even a little so, if Naruto wanted to get closer to her, he could find her forgiveness. At last, tired of trying to sleep, she rose from the bed and took a notebook, in which she began to write the pros and cons she could think about the possibility to forgive the Uzumaki of what he had done. For her surprise, she found out more positives than negatives aspects.

Hours later, after finishing preparing her to face that day of class, she was in the kitchen, making French toast for breakfast. When Sakura came out of her room and walked towards her, Hinata showed to her the plate with the toast she had made, and said:

"An offering of peace."

Her message was very clear. She wanted to leave behind her the discussion she had had with Sakura; and she looked like she had understood it quite well, because she smiled and took a seat at the table.

They breakfasted with tranquility and in silence, enjoying the delicious meal that the Hyuga had prepared. Hinata only broke it when the dishes were empty:

"Are you still helping Naruto?"

Sakura, who was gulping her last piece of French toast, almost choked when she heard the question, and she had to drink a great quantity of water to overcome the hurdle crossed in her throat.

With her face red, she nodded.

"What does he want of me?" Hinata asked.

"Your forgiveness", Sakura answered, impressed by the question. "Why do you ask?"

"I was thinking… Maybe I could forgive him…"

Sakura opened her eyes widely.

"Are you serious?"

And since Hinata nodded with her head:

"How? When?"

"I was talking with Krupal yesterday night and he convinced me of the idea, and besides, since I could not sleep, I made a list of pros and cons of to forgive Naruto and it ended winning the positive side."

But, for her surprise, instead of being enthusiastic, happy for her decision, Sakura asked her something that did not have anything to do with the matter they were treating:

"Were you with professor Blunt's assistant last night?"

Hinata frowned. Now that she had made the offer of peace, was she going to begin once again to denigrate Krupal in front of her?

"Yes", she answered dryly. "He invited me to dinner."

"That explained your absent of yesterday night", Sakura said.

She waited in silence, expecting that in any moment Sakura's complaints would fill the room. But at the end she did not say anything, and Hinata thanked it.

But if Sakura had contained of expressing her irritability in front of Hinata, to not win in that way the Hyuga's anger and to hinder their recently recovered friendship, she did not retain anything in front of Naruto, to whom she went to tell the news. She had to say to her friend what had happened!

"I have two news for you", Sakura said when she found him. "One is good and the other is bad."

Naruto saw her confused, the same as Sasuke, who was with him.

At last the blond chose:

"The good one first."

"Hinata is disposed to forgive you!" the pink-haired lady said, excited.

The two friends saw themselves impressed, and Naruto almost started jumping of happiness through all the room.

"When?! How?!" the Uzumaki exclaimed, imitating the questions his friend had made to Hinata.

"Here is the bad news. It looks like that, for what she has told me, her beloved Krupal has put the idea inside her head."

The two friends saw themselves again, impressed, but also with a suspicious look.

"I do not know with what objective he has done it, but something smell bad in all this", Sakura continued.

"That is not important!" Naruto asseverated. "What truly matter is that she is disposed to forgive me. I have a plan. First I must win her trust again, that is the only thing that matter to me right now. Then I will take care of that Krupal. Trust me!"

Sasuke and Sakura saw him doubters. For them the word "plan" plus Naruto was an image difficult to digest. It was like water and oil, they simply did not go together.

"Really I have a plan, believe it!" the blond said, hurt by the doubt of his two best friends. "And it is going to be perfect!"

But for to carry out his plan he must find Hinata first, and to locate the young woman was like looking for a needle in a haystack, extremely difficult. Naruto felt as if, although what she had said to Sakura, and what his friend had remitted to him, that Hinata was avoiding him. And it was not like he blamed her, he knew he had done something horrible; but if the Uzumaki did not have an inkling of her long dark hair and her beautiful pearl eyes, how could he ask for her forgiveness?

Had she regretted her decision? Was she making him to despair purposely, expectant for him to emend what he had done (even though Naruto firmly believed that such possibility was illogic, knowing Hinata as he knew her)? Or was that bastard of Krupal, who, at the same time he was sweetening her ear telling what she wanted to hear, was tying her to him, limiting her freedom?

However his doubts remained in the background when an opportunity more than clear to approach to Hinata came to him. She was coming out of her classes of the afternoon with such distracted look that when Naruto suddenly approached her she almost fell in the ground covered with snow (winter had begun a few days ago). If it had not been for him, and the quickly movement of his arm to hold her in the moment she was going to the floor, it would have been probably that Hinata would fall obstreperously.

"Thank you", Hinata said, with her face completely red.

But in the moment she tried to pull her hand to free it, Naruto retained it between his own hand. Hinata's shame turned into astonishment, and it not took to her a long time to see him in a suspicious way, as if she was wondering the reason behind his behavior.

The Uzumaki, conscious that he was not in the best position in that moment, quickly said, with a very unusual stutter in him:

"Hinata… I… I want to ask you… I want to ask for your forgiveness… I… I know I messed up… I know I have made you suffer… Please, forgive me…"

Even though the aplomb he had shown when the idea to fight for Hinata had formed in his mind, now Naruto was extremely nervous, in the moment when he had the opportunity to ask the young woman for her forgiveness. A blush, as those who was so typical in the Hyuga, had taken power over his cheeks.

But, to his surprise, the answer that Hinata dedicated to him was cold.

"Why I should?" the young woman said with hurt voice. "Why I should forgive you after what you have said to me? After what you have done to me! I know I made the promise to forgive you, but a big part of me is still hurt for your fault!"

She was frowning, with her eyebrows forming an arch over her forehead. Naruto never had seen her so angry in his entire life, so hurt, and knowing that her reaction was because of him broke his heart. Hinata was in all her right to be annoyed with him, was in all her right to despise him.

But Naruto did not want to step back now that he was so near to his objective. Squeezing Hinata's hand a little more between his, he said with all the pain and the desperation that his soul needy of Hinata could show, wanting to demonstrate to his companion how much he regretted what he had done:

"I know! I know I made a big mistake! I know I have hurt you, and I regret it deeply! It is because of this that I am asking for your forgiveness from the bottom of my heart! And I will not leave your side, even though you run away from me, until you forgive me, even if I have to chase you! You are very important for me, Hinata! You are my friend since we were little. You have been my confident, the only person who have tolerated me as I am. And I do not want to lose your friendship for a misunderstood. I do not want that everything we have done together be uprooted for a moment of rage, for my fault of to do something stupid! Hinata, without you my life will not be the same. Please, let me recover your trust! Let me entwine again our bonds!"

He moved his hand, entangled with Hinata's hand, to his forehead, and waited with his heart compressed by the expectation the answer of the young woman.

Nobody could have blamed Hinata if her answer was a "no". As it happens to all the people who get hurt by a person they love very much, she was afraid that Naruto would insult her again, that he would denigrate her in some way or another, and the fear that such possibility produced to her was enough to close herself to the perspective of giving her consent to the Uzumaki to continue with their friendship as if nothing had happened.

But one thing that made Hinata being Hinata was that for her was impossible to tolerate to see Naruto to suffer. Seeing him there, in front of her, with his beautiful blue eyes strongly shut, with his hand so firmly entwined with her, supplicating with an involuntary movement of his lips for her forgiveness, was enough to her wounded heart to melt at the moment.

"Yes", she murmured. "I forgive you."

As immediately as those words escaped from her mouth, Naruto released her hands to jump towards her and to hug her with all his force, crushing her small body against the strong of his; and the Hyuga, who had never been so near the Uzumaki in all her life, felt like she was going to faint.

It felt so good to be hugged by Naruto! How long she had dreamed with a moment like that! To feel the heat of his body communicating with hers, with his hands so strongly resting against her back, was something that Hinata had been waiting all her life. The Hyuga allowed herself to put her hands in the man's back and to hug him as well.

But while the seconds passed, and the two continued embracing the other, something strange, a uncomfortable sensation that grew up in her stomach and extended through all her body, attacked her, and, even though Hinata did not know the reason behind it, she felt too well the discomfort and the impression of drowning that was going across her. Even though, when Naruto separated from her and saw her, smiling, Hinata did not show in her face a sign of that uneasiness.

"I am happy that we are friends once more", Naruto said, holding her hands again. "For a moment I thought I had lost your friendship."

Hinata shook her head vehemently, to show that such possibility was illogic.

"Do you know what?" the Uzumaki continued, slightly pulling of her hand, inviting her to walk with him. "I think we should catch up with our lives."

"In which way?" the Hyuga asked with curiosity.

"I do not know! Perhaps you will tell me something about you that I do not know and I will tell you something you do not know about me. I will start, ok? I broke up with Vanessa."

Hinata saw him impressed.

"Really?!" she exclaimed. "Why?"

Naruto shrugged.

"We were not exactly compatible."

The Hyuga opened her eyes even more, still incredibly impressed. It was not as if she was not happy that the Uzumaki was single, only she was too dazed with the news. The last time she had seen he with his girlfriend (better say, ex-girlfriend) they seemed very much in love. Besides, his confidence made to grow up inside her mind an idea, an impressive idea. Was it possible that Naruto had broken up with Vanessa because of her? Even though the possibility was really exciting, she quickly shook her head, calling herself a stupid for thinking like that. The truth was that such thought made no sense at all.

"And what about you?" her companion asked. "Sakura told me that you are seeing someone."

Hinata blushed immediately, and she was so absorbed in the remembrance of Krupal that she did not realize the jealous look that Naruto was directing to her while he was waiting for her answer.

"It is just a friend!" the young woman answered finally, talking so quickly that she was crashing with the words. "His name is Krupal, and is the assistant of the tenured professor of the first grade of Medicine. He has helped me a lot to endure these first months of college."

And with other things, Hinata thought, but she did not tell that to her companion.

"Maybe I should feel jealous. You have a friend that is more important in your life than me", the Uzumaki said, surprising her.

"Jealous?" the young woman asked with an astonished look, blushing.

"I was joking, silly! You should not take so literally everything I say to you, Hina-chan."

But Hinata should have taken the Uzumaki's confession as literal as she had heard it. Naruto had not been lying when he said he was jealous of Krupal, and everything he represented in the Hyuga's life. Soon it would come the turn to take charge of that man, but however the first thing he should do was to secure his bonds with Hinata, and in such way that they would never break again.

His godfather had told him once, in a mocking way, of course, that if Naruto proposed it he could conquer the world, since he counted with a great facility to convince other people just with words (and because of this he was grateful that his godson was working for "the forces of good"). When he suggested to Hinata to go out with him, so that in this way they could strengthen their friendship and to spend a much needed quality time with her, the young woman did not refuse, and Naruto thanked mentally his persuasion powers.

The arrival of the winter marked as well the beginning of December, and in the same way two glorious, and stressful, weeks before the winter vacation. Aware of the short time he had to be near the woman, before the two went by separate ways to enjoy their holiday, Naruto searched and fabricate any excuse that could cross through his mind to be together with Hinata the most time possible. Either was inviting her to the local cinema or taking her to one of the many cafés in the environs of the campus, the Uzumaki squeezed every second of those two weeks with the Hyuga, trying to distract her of Krupal; meanwhile he struggled to erase every memory the other man had implanted in the young woman's heart, and sowing in the empty spaces his presence.

And while he was in it, Naruto realized something he never had seen before, as how beautiful Hinata was. Now that he slowly was stopping seeing her with the eyes of a friend and was beginning to see her with the feelings of a man, he became conscious of how much he liked her soft and pale skin, the smell of flowers that came out of her long dark hair, the way her eyelashes closed over her marvelous pearl eyes in a such attractive way, but at the same time with certain seductress shyness.

The fire of before, it that was so warm but at the same time so hot, which was kindled on inside her chest in the moment he knew that Hinata loved him, had converted in an uncontrollable flare; and if at some time history must place the moment in which Naruto had begun to love Hinata it had to be that. A desire stronger than him of retaining her at his side and to entwine his life with hers had formed inside him. He wanted to have her near him, that nobody but him had the right to claim her heart.

The impression that Hinata had begun to leave in him was so strong by the end of the course that, in the moment he was beginning to make his suitcases to return to home, the only thing he could think was in Hinata. The memory of the woman lit his days, distracted his afternoons and harbored his nights. Naruto ate thinking in Hinata, took care of his plants musing about Hinata and he dreamed with Hinata when he was going to sleep. And in the morning of the penultimate day of his stay in the university, before winter vacations, it was so big his fondness for Hinata that he impressed his third roommate when he was looking to the horizon, with a spoon full of cereal half way to his mouth, doing no effort at all to eat the breakfast he had in front of him.

"He is in love", Sasuke apologized for him.

"I see, I see", the man murmured.

But at the same moment Destiny paved Naruto's path towards Hinata, it could not be say that it did it in the opposite way.

Hinata loved Naruto, but until then she had been unable to take off her head the discomfort sensation that had attacked her when he had hugged her, and that had not stopped to bother her when she was with him. She still could not understand the reason behind it, but the impression got even bigger in her chest in the same way as it grew up stronger the feelings that Naruto professed for her (feelings that in that moment Hinata ignored completely). And the dilemma inside her was making her crazy.

But, as it had been since the beginning of her university career, Krupal came to her aid, alleviating her of the heavy burden of her worries with his always assertive words.

As a medicine student, and more than anything as professor Blunt's student, Hinata had one more than busy schedule of exams before holiday, and because of this she was sunken to the bottom with agendas of studies and the stress that so many hard tests caused her (as professor Blunt had promised, they were pretty difficult). For her luck, and for the fortune of her classmates, Krupal had come in the help of the students, organizing, after classes, a small group of studies (which through the time had gotten bigger), in where he was helping all who wanted to see again a subject it had not understood before or was assisting the student to cope with the stress.

After the incident starred by one of the young women, of the group of girls who were the professor's fanatic, in which she had insulted Hinata, and Krupal had defended her, all the students of the first grade of medicine saw the teacher with certain mistrust, and even with certain fear, but it did not stop no one of them to search for his help. Even Sakura had come up to his private lessons.

During the study for the last of the exams she had to deal with, Hinata stayed relegated in the classroom, accompanied by Krupal, who was explaining to her a topic she could not understand completely. Randhawa had to pass various times throughout the process since the Hyuga, although she was listening to him attentively, was failing to retain in her brain what he was teaching to her.

Krupal suddenly put his hands over her shoulders, and said to her, bending down to speak in her ear:

"You are distracted."

Hinata jumped on her seat, more astonished for the tickling sensation that Krupal's breath had left in skin, while he was speaking, than for the sudden manner he had put his hands over her shoulders and said those words.

Certainly, Hinata's mind was wandering in other direction, through a path that had little to do with medicine, but a lot with certain man of blond hair and blue eyes.

"What is happening?" the professor asked, while he took a seat in front of her.

The young woman shrugged.

"I do not know", she said. "It is just that… Every time I am with Naruto, when I am near him, I have a sensation of heaviness in my stomach, as if I was doing something bad or unpleasant for me. I can not take out this impression of my head."

It was more than obvious that Hinata had kept aware the professor with all her adventures with Naruto.

"What do you think is happening to me?" she continued, speaking with desperation.

Randhawa scratched his chin.

"I do not know. Sometimes it is an inexact science to understand the heart of women."

He laughed of his own joke, but when he saw that Hinata was not laughing with him, he cleared his throat and continued:

"I would venture to guess that your feelings for him have changed. Perhaps you do not feel them with the same intensity, or, the opposite, you love him even more, and you are afraid that to open your heart to him again will end up in a fiasco, as it has been until now. Tell me, when Naruto confessed how sorry he was for what he had done to you, when he asked for your forgiveness, what did you really feel?"

Hinata felt like she was choking when she heard the question. She knew very well how to answer it: in the moment when Naruto had asked her for her forgiveness, in the pompous way in which he had done it, her heart had not melted a little, but a lot. Even she had been almost about to confess foolishly the real feelings she professed for him. A part of her had wanted to give to the Uzumaki a new opportunity, desiring to see if it really, as if he had said, she was an important part of his life, and how much importance she had for him.

But, what if Naruto did not comprehend the truth of her feelings? What if he thought she was joking? Or worse, what if he rejected her? What if he did not want to see her again because of it?

"I see", Krupal said when Hinata had explained to him everything that had passed through her heart after Naruto's confession. "Do you know what I think, little one? I am not a psychologist, and nothing quite like it, but I believe you are afraid that your feelings are going to be rejected once again. That is the reason why you feel so bad when you are with him, because you are concerned about of offering too much and to not receive anything in exchange."

Once again, Hinata felt exposed in front of Krupal. Without clues of any kind he had arrived to a successful conclusion, and an inherent feeling of nakedness went through her body when she realized how easy was for the man to reach the most profound secrets of her heart and to bring them to the light.

She surprised when Krupal left the comfort of the chair, in which he was seated, to come closer to her, taking her hands between his.

"My father taught me that a person does not have to offer to another one more than what the other gives to him. If Naruto only wants your friendship, why do not you regulate your feelings for him, so you give to him what he is offering to you?"

"But you told me… you told me that I had to forgive him… that my happiness was with him…", Hinata murmured.

The man sighed.

"I know what I have said, little one, and I keep it. Since you have accepted to forgive him the smile has returned to your face, you look happier and more beautiful, as if a light is shining from within you. But I remember also that I had told you that your feelings for Naruto had not erased, but had transformed, and now I realize I was right. I do not say you do not love him, it is because of this that you are afraid, but you know inside you, as I know it, that your relationship with him are not going to go far away than from a friendship. Hinata, I told you once, it would be a shame to see you to wither in a relation that is not going anywhere. I still insist that your best option is to love someone else, but I made a mistake when I forced you to find a man when you were not ready. When the opportunity to love other man come to you it is going to happen because you have decided it, because you have taken the time and the calm enough to think about what you really want. There are other fishes in the ocean, darling, not only your Naruto."

He came closer to her, putting again his mouth near her ear. Hinata closed the eyes, enjoying the tingling sensation that his well shaved cheek left in her skin, and the delicious cologne which danced sinuously towards her nose.

"Hinata, I… I believe I love you…"

Hinata suddenly opened the eyes when she heard the confession. She separated from Krupal the enough to see his face, to try to discern in his eyes if the revelation was true or no. Previously she had had the impression that the man was feeling for her something similar of what she felt for Naruto, but later she had taken it as a mistake of her imagination. What said to her that right now she was not dreaming, that she had not imagined the words that had slipped inside her ear?

She surprised for the sad look he had in his face, as if he knew he had made a mistake confessing to her his feelings. The melancholic smile adorning his lips showed the truth of this.

Krupal said:

"I do not want that you feel in the obligation of to correspond to my feelings. If I have the luck of to be requited by you, it will be because you want so. Meanwhile, whatever would be your decision, I will continue be your professor and friend."

"Krupal…"

The man stopped her, lightly putting a finger over her mouth.

"Do not say anything now, dear. What I need of you right now it is that you forget what I have said and to continue with this", he tapped the notebook Hinata had on the table. "You need a good qualification in your exam."

But her mind was very far to worry about the result of the test, and certainly quite loath to learn any lesson anyone would teach to her in that moment. Her brain was more worried processing Krupal's confession and the implications it would have for her.

The truth was that she could not say that the love confession surprised her. Krupal himself had said to her, days ago, that he professed for her serious feelings. But, the same with her own suspicions about the real sentiments of the man, she had accepted his words as a misunderstood of her imagination. After all, why a man so handsome, as he was, who could have any woman he wanted, was going to love her? She had to admit that the interpretation she had made of what he had told her had corresponded more to a matter of her heart than a participation of her brain, and that, therefore, it should not take seriously.

But this time it had not place for doubts. Even though Krupal had not accepted his feelings in a solid and categorical way (with this of he "believe" he loved her), the weight of his confession was quite tangible to deny it. She had heard loud and clear what the man had said to her, and this time she was sure she had not misunderstood the slightest of his words. Krupal loved her; but, although his offer was temptress and beautiful, Hinata could not stop but feel afraid.

She felt fear because anybody before, and less someone of Krupal's caliber, had confessed its love to her, but also because she did not know what to do. Her heart had been captured for a long time by Naruto, and to imagine herself loving a man that was not he was a perspective difficult to assimilate. Even though weeks ago she had felt broken from inside by Krupal's absence, even though she had argued with Sakura when she had said to her that she had to separate of him, even though Krupal had kissed her as no other man had kissed her before, Hinata was not prepared to open her heart to him, and to try the best she could to keep inside her feelings for two different men.

No, definitely it could not exist between Krupal and her more than a friendship. The man should have to understand it, he should have to comprehend that it was impossible for her to correspond to his love when she already loved another man.

But, as she soon discovered it, the same as it happened to her with Naruto, to see Krupal suffering, and more when it was for her fault, was more than hard for her to assimilate. During the course of the last exam the man had been supervising the students, walking between the tables, and every time he passed near her, Hinata lifted her head to observe him, finding out the same afflicted expression in his face, and a sad smile occupying his lips.

It was more than what Hinata could bear. Every time she saw him she felt miserable, and she recriminated herself of being so cruel with that man, who had done so much for her. Perhaps, after all, it would not be so difficult to open her heart to both men. Why could not she do it? To see Randhawa in such frame of mind brought to her memory the words she had said to him that night, that in which they had dinner. She felt something important for him too, and it was futile to deny it.

It was because of this that once the exam finished she chased the professor through the Medical School until she found him in his office. But inside there, instead of waiting for her the open arms of Krupal and the everlasting offering of a cup of tea, the reality hit her with force.

"You can not love us both, Hinata", Krupal said. "You are going to suffer if you do it, little one, and in an incredible way."

"But I need you!" the Hyuga exclaimed. "I am sure of that! And also…"

"Do you need him?" Randhawa interrupted her, smiling sarcastically.

Hinata choked in her own blush.

"I told you already, darling, I am not going to obligate you to correspond to my feelings", Krupal continued, coming closer to her and brushing her chin with his fingers. "I am an old man, a silly old man, who is in love with a woman younger than him. Cases as mine there are thousands! But what I feel for you is real, and because of that I do not want you to play with my heart, neither with Naruto. To do it you need to decide, my beautiful Hinata. If you choose him, I will respect your decision and I will step back. We will continue to be friends, and I will keep my promise to not abandon you. However, if you choose me, I promise I am going to make you the happier woman in the world, I swear. But until you do not take your decision, I have to ask you to maintain our relationship in the friendly terms."

"Krupal…"

"Now, if you do not matter, darling, I must help professor Blunt to correct some exams."

He walked away from there, giving her a kiss in the cheek before going out and leaving her alone with her amazement.

One part of her understood very well Krupal. Not a single person who prided itself for having a little amount of ego could withstand being a replacement with its arms crossed and passive attitude. She accepted that the man was in all his right to demand her to become clear with herself, and to respect the feelings he had for her, trying to keep them as pure as they were in their initial state. But the other part of her was screaming in her head: why it had to be so difficult?! Why love had to be so complicated?! Neither one time in her life Hinata had imagined being in a situation like that, loving two men. No one could blame her for being afraid and for not knowing what to do.

But, and in her aid, the pillow was once again a good counselor. The next day she woke up pretty early, with a taken decision after hours of desperation. It was six o'clock in the morning when she raised out of her the sheets. The room was intensely cold, and she began to shiver as she left the comfort of her bed.

During last night she had made her suitcases; but it was still out, on a chair, the clothes she was going to wear that day and a purse. Hinata put both luggage near the room's door, and then quickly put inside the bag the clothes, as well as various personal items and her smartphone. She wore over her pajama a coat, put on some shoes, and after that, putting over her shoulder the purse, she left the room. Sakura was spending the night with Sasuke, so the Hyuga could leave the residence without problems.

Meanwhile, at some distance from there, Naruto was also awake. His usual thoughts of Hinata were distracting his sleep. It was impossible for him to close his eyes and to fall asleep when every time he did it an emotion, which grew in his heart and exploded in his brain, made him tossed and turned in his bed by the happiness, thinking that soon he was going to conquer Hinata's heart.

But it did not only distract him happy thoughts, but also other bothersome and irritable ones. Since he had discovered his renewed feelings for Hinata, he could not find the bravery to confess to her what his heart felt. It was not as if every time he was with Hinata an urgency of to jump in front of her and to profess his love for her did not assailed his mind, but he was worried in looking for the perfect circumstance to say to her that he loved her. Certainly, it was not a thing of every day that a man has the opportunity to confess his feelings to the woman he loves with his entire soul; and Naruto, after everything he had done to her, wanted to make of his confession a memorable moment. However, as Sakura had remembered him multiple times, if he was not quick the probability that Krupal Randhawa stole Hinata was pretty high. Such possibility soured his thoughts and made him angry.

It was mostly because of this the reason why he was awake. Because of that he listened so quickly the calls against the door of his residence.

Who could it be?, he asked to himself. Rapidly, he jumped out of the bed and walked over to the door, opening it. What he saw at the other side of the entrance surprised him.

"Hinata…"

Hinata hugged herself, more for the impression of what she found when the door opened than by the cold itself. Krupal was leaning against the doorway with sleepy face (she was sorry for waking him up), with his orange hair unruly and his red eyes sparkling with certain mystic aura, a vision that was able to leave her breathless, and to almost forget the reason why she was there.

"What are you doing here?" the man asked hoarsely.

"I have something to show to you!" Vanessa exclaimed, shaking the smartphone, which she had in one of her hands, near his face. "May I pass?"

Naruto furrowed his blond eyebrows over his forehead. What the hell was doing Vanessa there? It was the damn six in the morning! Anyway, passed some seconds, and after sighing, he invited the woman to enter in the room with a movement of his hand.

Hinata entered in the apartment of the professor, leaving her bag in one of the chairs. She jumped on herself when she heard the door being closed by Krupal, but then sighed and shook the head: she was acting like an idiot. But who could blame her? She was nervous, and what she had to say to the man could change her life forever.

"Krupal, I… When you asked me to clear out my feelings, I thought about them… and me… I choose you. Yes, I choose you!" she exclaimed when she saw the expression of amazement in the man's face. "I love Naruto, and a lot, but you are right: maybe he is not going to love me as I love him. I am so tired of to put his happiness over mine, of losing what I really want for waiting that he loves me back! I need him, but I need you more… And I believe my happiness can be with you… I really begin to believe that I can love you… Maybe I can not correspond completely to your feelings right now, but I will…"

She was stopped dryly by Krupal's lips, alighting over hers, dragging her in a passionate kiss, in which the passion was burning her veins and was making explode her body in a blaze of fire.

Hinata put her arms around the man's neck, and let Krupal to hug her every second more towards him, until their bodies were fused in one.

"You make me so happy, little one, so happy", Krupal said to her when they separated.

Tears began to fall by her cheeks. Krupal hugged her, and the young woman held his strong back with both hands. By the way they were she could not see the eyes of her companion, but if she would have seen them she would have discover how they sparkled with malice, as if Krupal knew something she did not.

"Let me serve you a glass of water, darling", the man said after some minutes.

A glass of water struck the table with force, in front of where Vanessa was sat down. Naruto, who had deposited it in such way, almost spilling the liquid, was seeing her with anger.

"You still do not have exposed the reason why you are here", the blond said with cold voice.

"I only want to show you something, dear", the woman said, sliding towards him her smartphone.

Naruto took the cellphone in his hands, while his visitor drank the glass of water parsimoniously. In the phone screen was waiting for him some pictures, and when the Uzumaki saw those to say he was angry was an understatement.

"FUCKING RANDHAWA!" he cried out, throwing the phone in Vanessa's direction before walking through the room as an angry beast.

He was so absentminded in his own anger that he did not see the happy expression that his ex-girlfriend had in her face. Vanessa was smiling with the happiness of someone who knows that has obtained something it wishes.

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Here is the chapter six. I hope you like it, and if so please leave me a review or follow the story, I would be really grateful.

I want to thank all the people who have left me a review so far. I am trying to improve my English as much as I can. Also, I am taking your advice to improve my writing, and your support words to continue with the story. Thank you all!

See you in the next chapter!


	7. Chapter VII

**The red-eyed monster**

 _A series of murders against young and innocent's women put in check the police and the society. Without clues or any links to lead the police to the whereabouts of this cruel monster, can Hinata Hyuga be saved in time before her name join the list of the victims of the so call red-eyed demon?_

 **Disclaimer:** Naruto and its characters don't belong to me, but Masashi Kishimoto.

Sorry for my english, it's the first time I write in english. I beg your pardon for my grammar errors.

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Before the chapter begins I want to apologize for the delay of this chapter. Right now my life is a whole mess, and it had been difficult to me to write when I am feeling so bad for my current situation. But I promise the next chapter is going to be out soon. Just be patience.

* * *

 **Chapter VII**

Life is filled with people who can change our destiny; whom, with only take our hand and bring us with them, can transport us to a new and unknown world, much times to a beautiful one, but other times to one quite perturbing.

Both Naruto and Hinata had shared their life path with thousands of people, persons who in one way or another had changed their destinies in many forms, but Hinata had never met in her life a man as striking, intriguing and with such capacity of controlling her as Krupal, and Naruto would not have never imagined that he would entwine his life with a woman as beautiful, but at the same time so mean as Vanessa. But the truth was that such reality was controlling their fate in that very moment, and every one of them was suffering it in a different way.

Naruto never had had an easy life. From an early age he had had to grow up with the fact that his father had died as consequence of a theft that had gone terribly wrong, reason why during his first years in school he had to endure the teasing of the rest of the children. But never, neither a single time throughout his twenty-two years old, someone had hurt him as deeply as Vanessa had done that morning.

When he had begun to take his first steps through the field of love, his mother had warned him of to take care of choosing the adequate girl to fall in love, a young who was neither an unsupportable jealous nor an irritating dull, and even though Naruto had thought that such advice was bothersome and even embarrassments, he had taken the time to follow the suggestions of the woman who had brought him to life. When he had met Vanessa the last summer it had been impossible for him to think that behind such beautiful woman, that behind her long and soft brown hair and shining blue sky eyes, could hide so despicable person. Because yes, Vanessa was everything his mother had advised him, the most evil woman he had encountered in his life.

Why she had done it, he did not understand. Was she resentful because he had broken-up with her? Was she jealous that he loved another woman, and it was so big the amount of pain and the evilness she had in her heart to do what she had done? Because certainly, in the moment Vanessa had stepped inside his residence and then, after some minutes, had slid her smartphone towards him, showing in the phone to him those shocking and incriminating photographs, she had done it with the clear intention of stabbing in his chest the deadliest knife that anybody had used against him.

Vanessa had known for sure the consequences that would follow the moment when he would pick up the phone and see the pictures saved in it. She ought to have known that in the following second after he looked those photographs of Hinata and Krupal kissing, that latch which restrained his well-known bad temperament was going to give in. She ought to have intuited that Naruto was going to transform in a kind of savage beast thanks to the anger boiling through every pore of his skin, and surely she had felt very happy with the idea.

In the moment that his angry yell had left his throat two things happened: the first one, Sasuke, Sakura (who was spending the night with her boyfriend), and his other co-residence came to the living room, where the Uzumaki was with his ex-girlfriend, with worried and stunned expressions; and the second, when the tempers calmed a little, and Sasuke could convince the other man to go back to sleep, that everything that was going on could be resolved by Sakura and him, Naruto kicked out Vanessa from there, saying to her with an angry and threatening voice before she left that if he saw her again near him or his friends she was not going to like the consequences. The woman, terrified, did not think twice to flee from the place.

When Vanessa left, when her presence was not anymore a nuisance for him, he concentrated his anger in his next objective: Hinata. Why in the name of God Hinata, among all the persons, was the one who made to him more damage?! He had Hinata in a damn pedestal! And now he was discovering that behind her words, that she loved him and was going to wait for him, were only lies. Could Hinata still swear that she loved him when she ran to the arms of the first man who spoke to her about love? Could he still believe that she professed for him some kind of feeling after the photographs he had seen? (If he was honest with him, he had to admit that it was not the first time Vanessa showed to him incriminating pictures of Hinata; but he was sure that in this opportunity, unlike the previous, those were real.)

He was not only angry, irritated, as never before he had been in his life. He not only felt hurt, as if someone had introduced a hand in his chest and was pressing his heart, wanting to crush it. He also felt betrayed, stupid, regretful of deciding to open his soul to a woman who was going to play with his feelings; but also astonished, thunderstruck, as if he still could not believe that Hinata was the culprit of the tumultuous sentiments which attacked him. But most of all he felt as if his heart was broke in thousands pieces, causing to him a pain he had never experienced in his life.

Was it that what having the heart break felt? Naruto had never faced a similar sensation; and even though he was making his best effort to keep at bay the sensation of his mind and soul, it was resulting to him impossible to free himself of such heavy burden. Why it had to be Hinata? Why precisely her?

When he told his friends what had happened, both of them saw him with astonishment expressions and certain amount of pity (looks that Naruto hated intensely), but even so Sakura did not hold back to scold him. She had warned him! She had said to him many times that this Krupal Randhawa had his claws over Hinata, and if he did not play his cards the other man was going to win the game! She had pushed him to act as quickly as possible, of to be brave enough to say to Hinata what he felt for her! Now his doubts had made the Hyuga to fall in the traps of the other man!

In normal circumstances Naruto would have lowered his head and would have let the woman to scold him; or simply he would have kept silence, observing as the message expressed to him entered one of his ears and left through the other. But this was not a normal occasion. The Uzumaki had had enough with the unexpected visit of Vanessa and what it had left behind to put up with idly Sakura's reproaches, and sooner rather than later the blond and the pink-haired woman began to argue. Both of them had strong characters, and it did not take long to the discussion to reach critical levels. Sasuke had to separate them.

"Enough with you two!" the Uchiha said, raising the voice. "A fight will not lead anywhere! Sakura, at least you have something useful to say, I ask you to please be quiet. This is a tense situation for Naruto. Altering his mood by scolding to him about things that could have happened but did not is not going to help at all. The same for you, Naruto. Sakura has not the fault of what have happened. Do not pay your ill humor with her."

It was not the first time that Sasuke, during all the years the three of them had been friends, had been the voice of the reason between the other two elements of the group. Realizing that the dark-haired was right, Naruto and Sakura broke away with sad looks and begged for the forgiveness of the other while facing to the floor, as two little children forced by their parents to accept that their behavior with other had been incorrect. Maybe both of them had different opinions about the matter they had between hands, but in that moment the two had in common the resentment they felt against Hinata for what she had done.

The long silence that followed the apology of the friends was enough for the discomfort sensation of before to come back. None of the three, especially Naruto and Sakura, knew how to face the consequences that had unleashed those fateful photographs.

The Uzumaki could not take out of his head the most inconvenient question that anyone could ask in a situation like that: what was going to happen now?

How he was going to face Hinata, the feelings he had for her, and the aftereffect that those damn pictures had occasioned to their relationship? Was he going to be brave enough to find her and to demand to her a coherent explanation about what was happening? Or the contrary, was he going to try to avoid her at all cost?

The only thing he knew for sure was that he wanted to strangle the real culprit of everything that had happened so far: that hideous man, Krupal Randhawa.

In an attempt to distract their minds, Sasuke persuaded Sakura to accompany him to a recognized bakery franchise, which had one of its shops in the university, to buy the breakfast. The woman went to the man's bedroom to change clothes, and minutes later, when she came back, Sasuke did the same. Once ready to go, the couple left the place.

When he was alone, Naruto allowed himself to let out a great mouthful of air that he did not know until then he was retaining in his lungs. He saw around him, and suddenly disgusted of the place, since it had been in that same living room where, a few hours ago, Vanessa had wished to denigrate the good image he had of Hinata, he decided to go to his bedroom, from where, he thought, he must never have not gone out, avoiding in that manner the problem which right now was clung to his shoulders.

But to get back to his room occasioned to him more troubles than gains. Being a tidy person was not precisely one of the best qualities of the Uzumaki, reason why even though he had to leave college in the midafternoon, time when the university was going to shut its gates for the holiday season, a great quantity of his clothes and personal objects were scattered all over the bedroom. Naruto had tried last night to put his belongings in the luggage he had brought with him, but he had failed obstreperously. But now he had not possibility of escape. At least that he could convince the dean that he was not in the capacity of doing any task which require concentration, as to store clothes in a baggage, because his heart was broken because the woman he loved was with another man, the blond did not have any choice but to get down to work.

At the beginning he stored his belongings inside the luggage with tardiness, but later, as the minutes passed by, and the room was been emptied of the disorder really fast, he began to work with much more eagerness. The job had managed to distract him of the consequences that the visit of his ex-girlfriend had brought to him, even to the point than in a moment he did not even remember the matter of the photographs.

But the moment of peace ended when he found in one of the drawers of the wardrobe, which he was cleaning in that moment, a red scarf, hand-woven.

That was not any scarf. It was the scarf Hinata had gifted him in his twenty second birthday.

Naruto took it between his hands with great delicacy, as if he was holding a very fragile object, and closed his eyes, remembering the moment when the young woman had given it to him. That day he had been very far from knowing what Hinata felt for him, or even to the point of corresponding to her sentiments. Even he had been in a relationship with Vanessa at that time. Who would have said to him that in this very moment the tables would be turned, that he would no longer love Vanessa, but instead would have such strong feelings, as those he had right now, for Hinata? A sad laugh escaped from his lips, marveling, yet stupefied, of the setbacks of Life.

And suddenly a thought, which until then had not crossed his mind, either because it could not penetrate through his wounded and jealous heart, appeared in front of him as a revelation. When Sasuke and Sakura had confessed that they had been hiding from him the true about the feelings Hinata professed for him, Naruto had felt very sorry with her for having had to endure in silence seeing how he walked through a path she never could walk – or at least it was what she believed. For so many years she had loved him in silence, without complaining even once of her situation, that maybe she never was going to be corresponded in her feelings, offering to him her friendship even though such effort was destroying her from inside.

Did he really believe he had the right, after all she had had to suffer by his fault, of to reproach her?

The truth was that Naruto must confess to himself that he had been unfair with the Hyuga. Not only Hinata had endured her love for him with fortitude, keeping her feelings by her, and suffering in consequence, but also she was not suspecting at all that he loved her. Not even Naruto had confessed his love for her, and even so he wanted that she was loyal to him, that she suffered more pain for his fault!

For his luck no one, until then, had approached Hinata with amorous intentions, but Krupal Randhawa had come to her life with clear expectations of reverse this fact. The Hyuga always had been a woman of weak soul, of an atavistic shyness that looked like it ran through her veins as it was part of her DNA. Randhawa, a man older than her, with more experience in life, must have seen such weakness easily and had taken advantage of it to make Hinata to fall in his game. If Hinata was in love with him it was only because that man had persuaded her that the best for her was to trust in him.

But it did not mean that she did not love him anymore. Naruto only needed a proof, he only needed to see in her eyes if the feelings she professed for him had not disappeared.

He slid the scarf between his hands, feeling the interlacing of the handmade fabric. Hinata had made that scarf for him, putting all her effort and love in the manufacturing of the cloth.

Suddenly he moved the scarf to his face, holding it against it, and he smelled from the cloth the fragrance of flowers that came out of it, perfume he knew very well that belonged to Hinata (surely it had permeated the fabric while it was being made by Hinata's delicate hands.) He remained like that for some minutes until, with the same impulsivity, he removed the cloth from his face. When his face was free, his blue eyes were shining in a special way, with a decided shine, as if they were made of steel.

One of his mottos was to not give up to his words. Naruto had made the decision to fight for Hinata, even though he must have to leave the last drop of blood in the battle. If there was still even the slightest vestige of love in Hinata for him, the Uzumaki was going to engage in the battle with all his forces.

He needed to find Hinata and to see in her eyes that all was not lost for him.

Meanwhile, some distance away, Hinata opened her eyes to the world, totally unaware of what was happening a few meters away thanks to her.

She stretched and rubbed her eyes until no remained traces of slumber on them, as it was a habit in her since she was a little girl, with the happiness to face a new day. But when she separated the eyelashes from the cheekbones and saw around her, she got frightened. Why was she waking up in that bed? She did not recognize the bedroom where she was, neither the sheets which moments ago were wrapping her body, and the unfamiliarity made her feel restless.

But in the moment the nervousness and her inherent shyness were showing the worse of her, through her mind passed, as if she was seeing a movie, what had happened that same dawn: the doubts which had made her to wake up in her own room, in the residence where she was spending her time in the university, when the sun had not yet showed its yellow face in the winter sky; her decision, the same which had taken her to Krupal's apartment and to say to him that, even though she still loved Naruto, she wanted to be with him; the kissed that later had followed her words, the most passionate kiss that Hinata had experienced in her life. And such memories made her blush to the roots of her dark hair.

But she did not only remember that, but also the man's invitation to spend the rest of the night there. Randhawa had offered to her his bed, while he settled in one of the sofas in the living room. Hinata recalled that the last thought she had before she fell asleep was how good it felt Krupal's pillow against her face, and how much she liked the fragrance that its owner had left in the fabric, and the remembrance made her blush even more. In an attempt to distract her mind of those reminiscences, she focused in the task of finding Krupal.

However, when she opened the room's door and searched through the apartment looking for the man, she did not find any trace of the professor.

The absence of the man of red eyes made her feel a small, but devastating pain in the chest, as if her heart had broken apart. But the sight of a paper sheet, laying in one of the countertops of the kitchen, held by what looked like a clip, raised her spirit.

Such happiness was not unjustified. When she walked to the kitchen she saw that the sheet was not a hoax of her imagination, and what held it against the table was a red rose, not a clip. She grabbed the flower and smelled it before taking the paper, realizing it had a message which Krupal had left to her.

It said this; and while she was reading, a smile grew up in her face:

"Good morning gorgeous,

I hope you had a good night. I am sorry that I can not accompany you this morning. As you know, this is the last day of class, as well as, for us the teachers, the day when we must give the grades to the students. Professor Blunt has asked me to help him, so I had to go to work early this morning. I took the liberty to make breakfast to you (it is in the table, the one that is under the green plate, and you have juice in the fridge). If you need me, I am going to be in my office until noon.

I hope you have a good day, darling. And thank you for trusting in me.

With love,

K."

Hinata's smile got bigger. She put the note against her chest, near her heart, and inhaled with happiness the exquisite smell of the rose. Truly she had thought of this thousands times, but the truth was that no man (even Naruto) had been as gallant and loving with her as Krupal. Sometimes in life the only thing that matters is a true love, and for the first time in her life she knew what it felt to be loved; and the sensation pleased her very much.

She picked up her belongings of the chair, that she had left when she had entered in Krupal's apartment, and went back to Krupal's room, specifically to the bathroom, to prepare for the day. After washing her face, brushing her teeth and combed her hair, she dressed the clothes she had prepared before leaving her residence, and put inside the bag her pajamas, as well as the rest of her things. Then she ate the breakfast Krupal had prepared for her, and when she finished, she cleaned what she had dirtied. After that she put inside the pocket of the jeans she was wearing the note Krupal had wrote to her, wore her coat, and got out from there with the rose the man had gifted her, completely unprepared for the future that was waiting for her.

Certainly she felt very happy, not only for the attentions Krupal had with her, but also for the calm sensation she was experiencing by knowing that she had a shoulder where she could rest, an unconditional support. She did not only have a strong friendship with the man, but also, starting from that day, Krupal was holding a great part of her heart between his hands. Hinata was unrepentant of her decision; moreover, it made her feel completely happy. For this reason, even though she was positive that it was impossible that her determination were received with open hands by the people who knew her, she had the illusion that the resolve her heart had made was going to be treat with respect.

But when she went inside the residence, unaware of the obscure cloud hanging over her head, and saw Sakura there, waiting for her crossed-arms and with irritated expression in her face, she knew that things were not going to be as easy as she wished.

Sakura was accompanied by Ino, who, behind her, was seeing Hinata with certain pity, as if she lamented the luck she was going to have.

The pink-haired woman said with cold voice:

"Where the hell were you?"

When Hinata had left the residence at the dawn, Sakura was spending the night with her boyfriend; but she had not been as stupid as to believe that when she returned she was going to have the same luck, and in that way avoid the recount of what she had done to the woman (even though she considered that such act was absurd since she was old enough to not explain to anyone what she had done, but she was too gentle to say it out loud.)

But considering the way Sakura was looking at her, the corporal position in which she was, it was clear to her that she was waiting for a concise and immediate answer; and Hinata thought that a little innocent fib was not going to hurt anyone:

"I went outside to have some fresh air", she answered.

"Did you go outside to have some fresh air in this weather, and with a bag which reveals that your clothes were in there?" Sakura asked with sarcasm, demanding to stop being seen as an idiot by her. "Do not lie, Hinata!"

The Hyuga was externally calm, but inside her she was nervous and anxious. Why Sakura was insisting so much in her desire to know where she had been? She could not deny that her friend had shown many times the eagerness to protect her, but such worry had never reached a point where she was requiring to her so many details about her whereabouts, or the things she had been doing. Frankly, Sakura's attitude, besides to be threatening, was stupid.

"Sakura, I still need to store some of my things in my luggage, and besides I want to see my grades, so…"

The dark-haired woman made a movement to approach to her room, but Sakura stopped her steps.

"Do not think you are going to escape so easily!" she exclaimed. "You are not going to leave this place until you explain to me why you have betrayed Naruto!"

When Hinata heard the name of the blond Uzumaki she stopped dryly, and, turning around, she saw Sakura with a confused look. The other woman was shaking by the fury inside her chest.

"Where are your words that you were going to wait for him, even though you had to wait your entire life?! Where are your words that you love him above all things?! I had told you to stay away of that bastard of Krupal Randhawa, and even so you are still with him!" Sakura continued.

Hinata sighed with tiredness, feeling that she already had had this conversation with Sakura and had been very clear with her opinion in the matter (of course, since that moment her thoughts about Naruto had changed drastically, stopping of to see him through the lens of the wound he had made to her.) But when Sakura continued, she knew she was completely wrong:

"Do not think I do not know what you have done with your beloved Krupal! And Naruto also knows!"

And likewise that Sakura's words had escaped from her mouth, in the same manner Hinata felt that her heart slumped down.

We humans always dream with the powers we want to have, but it was a great benefit that neither Sakura nor Hinata had the facility to read the minds of other people. If they really would have had such skill, Hinata would have saw that her worries were somewhat unfounded, and would remain calm, on the contrary of what was happening to her, and Sakura would have saw with dismay an event much more terrifying than the pictures Naruto's ex-girlfriend had shown to her friend and to her of Krupal and Hinata kissing.

Clearly Hinata did not have the capacity to know what Vanessa had done against her, reason why when Sakura had accused her, the only possible scenario that made logic in her mind was that she knew about what had happened that dawn. Somehow Naruto and the pink-haired woman had found out about the conversation she had had with Krupal, about her decision to give her heart to the man in detriment of her feelings for Naruto, and that she had spent the night in the professor's apartment. And of course she got frightened.

More than frightened, she felt lack of oxygen. Naruto knew! Naruto knew she was with Krupal! Remembering how offended he had felt that time when some false photographs of her had been published in Internet, she did not even want to imagine how much this time the Uzumaki's anger had consumed their friendship and his trust in her. She felt as tears began to appear in the corners of her eyes. No, that was not happening! It was impossible!

"I… I…" she murmured, disconsolate.

"Naruto is very angry with you for what you have done! I do not even know if he is going to forgive you! Heck! I do not even know if I can forgive you! After everything I have done so the two of you can be together, and you are with that bastard! After all the efforts I have made so he could see you in the same way you see him! After everything…!"

Sakura had all the intention to continue in her angry speech, but Hinata stopped her.

Maybe she was surprised and disturbed for what she believed Naruto knew about her relation with Krupal, but she was not that lost in her mind to not hear Sakura's last sentence, and what it meant.

 _After all the efforts I have made so he could see you in the same way you see him!_ , the pink-haired woman had said; and as soon as that sentence was proceeded by her brain, something stopped inside her, in the same way that a tranquility sensation precede the storm.

Her eyes remained fixed in an undefined point of the room, making all the effort she could afford to not to accept what her mind was demanding to her to confront. _No_ , she said to herself thousands of times, but she had to face that it had no other more logical answer to Sakura's words.

Suddenly, her eyes moved towards Sakura, seeing her with a cold stare, meanwhile her finger was raised against the woman.

"Did you…? Did you told him?" she murmured with an unusual cold voice for her. "Did you tell Naruto… about my feelings for him…?"

The blush that took over Sakura's cheeks did not help her to calm down.

Hinata became even more a bunch of anger and pain.

"How could you?!" she cried out. "If someone had to say to him what I feel for him it had to be me! How could you?!"

"Yes, I told him!" Sakura confessed for her pain. "I must tell him! Maybe in that way you will stay away of that bastard of Krupal Randhawa once and for all!"

Hinata always had liked to be a good person and to show the most positive side of her personality to the others. But, as the timid person she was, even for her it was impossible to be continuously friendly and diligent when the limits of her patience were exceed again and again.

When she heard Sakura's answer, that effectively she had done the stupidity to tell to Naruto about her feelings for him, and that she had acted only by the resentment she had against Krupal, that good and friendly Hinata was replaced by one furious and without contemplation.

"What the hell are you just said?" she demanded.

Both Sakura and Ino opened their eyes widely and broke apart their mouths with astonished expressions. It was the first time they heard Hinata swearing.

"Let me see if I understood it", the Hyuga continued. "You told Naruto about my feelings for him because you wanted to separate me of Krupal in that way. Now the most probably thing it is that he is angry with me, so he has decided to hate me for the rest of his life, and obviously never reciprocate my feelings, or he has taken what I feel for him as a joke, although, of course, he still is mad with me. I am correct, am I not?"

A sad smile drew on her face.

"Do you know what, Sakura?" she said. "I thought you were my friend."

"I am, Hinata!" the woman cried out with hurt voice, in pain for Hinata's words. "I love you, and because of that I want you to stay away of Krupal Randhawa! He is a dangerous man, Hinata, if you could only see it! Please, I just ask you…!"

"Stop!" the pearl-eyed woman pleaded, stopping Sakura.

When she had shouted, Hinata had put her hands in front of her, as if she was pleading the other woman to stop her harassment. Tears wanted to fall from her eyes, but she made an effort to detain them. She did not want to cry. She wanted to be strong.

"I am not interested anymore in your opinion about my decision, Sakura. Nor yours, nor anyone. Whatever I decide to do with my life is my problem, and sometime you will have to respect the decisions I will make, even though you do not like them. And that implies my feelings for Krupal. He is very important for me, although you do not believe it."

Even though she had made efforts to keep away the tears, a pair of them escaped from her eyes, and Hinata dried them up with force with the back of the hand.

She thought about how incredible the irony of Life was. Minutes ago, when she had left Krupal's apartment, she had been happy. But now, thanks to Sakura and her malicious words and actions, Hinata felt a whirlwind of emotions, which were not near to the happiness she had experienced before.

Deciding she had had enough, she went to her room, leaving the place in less than five minutes while dragging the heavy luggage behind her. When she was moving towards the exit door Sakura pleaded her to stop, to not leave the place, but Hinata did not listen to her. In that moment, between all the people she wanted the less to see, Sakura was the first person in the list.

She left the place, walking with the heavy baggage behind her to the elevator; and when she arrived to the drawing room of the building, she put her luggage with others already gathered there.

After she did it, she walked away of the building regardless of the heavy snowfall falling over the campus, walking as a human being from whom someone had taken all the will to live.

Meanwhile, still in the residence, Sakura and Ino were seeing at each other, one with anger and guilt in the look, and the other with a reproachful expression.

"What kind of stupidity you have done, Sakura!" the blonde reproached.

"It is that…! I just wanted to…! It is so frustrating, Ino! She does not realize how dangerous it is that man for her! It makes me so angry that right now, when Naruto is reciprocal to her feelings, she is with him!" the pink-haired woman said, trying to justify her behavior with Hinata.

"If I were you, I would tell Naruto about this right now!" Ino said to her friend. "Hinata is so demoralized that if this Krupal find her, she is going to be an easy prey for him! You must warn Naruto about this situation, and that she needs him now more than ever!"

Sakura had to accept that Ino was right, so the two friends left the place as quickly as their legs could run and went to the residence where the Uzumaki was staying.

In the moment when the two women arrived to their destiny, Naruto was looking around his bedroom with satisfaction. It was now as clean as the first time he had entered in the place, and his belongings were neatly stored in the luggage. As it was a common sensation in all the human beings, the good results after a hard working made him feel happy.

"Very well!" he thought. "Now I need to find Hinata."

But in the moment he was going to put the words into action, knockings at the door of the residence distracted his attention for second time in that day.

When he was leaving his room, Sasuke was opening the door to a tired Ino and Sakura.

To Naruto's surprise, when Sakura recovered her breath, she did not jump to her boyfriend arms, but walked towards him in a sudden movement.

"Naruto, I… I did something terrible…" the woman murmured.

The blond saw her worried, and, putting a friendly hand over Sakura's shoulder, he said to her, inviting her to talk:

"What is happening?"

But while Sakura was explaining to him about the details of her encounter with Hinata, what she had said to the Hyuga and what she had answered her, the worry for her friend had become a wild anger against her.

"You did what?!"

"It was something of the moment!" Sakura said, shaking from head to toe, trying to explain herself. "I did not want to say all I have said to her, but I was so angry!"

"The only one who is angry here it is me, Sakura, and with you!"

Sasuke interfered between the two, taking Sakura by an arm and dragging her away of Naruto, to whom he said:

"I will take care of her. You go get Hinata."

Sighing, because he knew that after all it was futile to fight with Sakura, especially when he was conscious that what she had done it had happened for her desire to help him, Naruto left the place and entered in the white frontiers of the campus to look for the Hyuga.

He walked and searched for what it seemed to him had been ten minutes when his feet drew him to a path of red rose petals, partially covered by the snow, which went to one of those parks that rarely the students visited. The place was a kind of gazebo. It did not have the staircases accustomed to such structures, which lead the guest inside them; and an ensemble of stone walls and stone arcs gave life to the construction, all ending in a roof of the same stone. In it, a series of banks were waiting for the visitors.

In one of them he found his objective. The path of red petals ended inside the gazebo, more properly at Hinata's feet, who was seated with her head down and hands joined over her knees, a corporal position Naruto had seen before in her. It was as if in that way her body showed the shyness characteristic in her.

But Hinata was not alone. Bending over near her, giving his back towards Naruto, that bastard of Krupal Randhawa was offering to her a handkerchief.

Hinata took the handkerchief and cleaned her face with it, of what Naruto believed were tears, while Randhawa stroke her back with slow movements. It resulted impossible for him to see the state in which the young woman's eyes were, but it was clear, by the way her shoulders were shaking, that she was crying; and the realization made him to reproach Sakura in his mind for making Hinata cry.

By the corner of the eye he saw that Randhawa's face was moving, as if he was speaking; and given that from that distance he could not hear the other man, Naruto moved quickly to a nearby tree, hiding behind its trunk, so he could spy the conversation.

He listened to the man, who was saying this:

"Tell me what have happened to you, darling. Maybe, in that way, I can help you."

Krupal's manner to talk to Hinata was sweet and subtle, and Naruto got irritated by this.

To her companion's proposal, Hinata denied with her head.

The Uzumaki heard as the other man sighed.

After some minutes, Krupal took out from his bag, a shoulder bag, a bottle of water, which he opened and offered to Hinata, saying:

"Drink some water, it is going to help you to calm down."

The Hyuga did as the man suggested and drank a great amount of water. As Randhawa had said, Naruto saw from the distance that the young woman calmed down a little bit.

"Do you feel ready now to tell me what have happened to you?" the man asked.

Some minutes passed before Hinata nodded.

The young woman told man a similar story to what Sakura had told him minutes before, just this time from Hinata's point of view.

When she got to the point about how she had discovered the secret that Sakura had hidden to her, that she had confessed to Naruto the feelings she had for him, the blond Uzumaki felt as his heart got compressed by the expectation, but especially by the pain which had followed to her fear that the revelation of her love, plus what he knew about the relation she had with Randhawa, would have put Naruto angry with her, or worse, that he never wanted to see her again. In the moment he heard the confession, he wanted to jump forward and to tell Hinata that everything was alright, that he could not be mad at her never in his life, and, most important, that he loved her.

But if he held back to not reveal his presence to Hinata and Krupal, he had to contain himself to not strangulate Randhawa when he said:

"I see. Forgive me to say this to you, Hinata, but I think that you are again worrying more than necessary. When we discussed about this, I remember I told you to not giving to anyone more than what is given to you, especially in your relation with Naruto. Do you remember what I said to you? If he is looking for your friendship, stop loving him, or you are going to still suffer for him. Did something change until this day about that?"

"That fucking bastard is controlling her mind!" Naruto exclaimed to himself, as Hinata shook the head to answer to Krupal's question.

"Then break free of all the doubts that you have in your beautiful head, my love!" the man continued. "Do not think of what the others want of you! You have to make your own decisions, Hinata. Your friends – even Naruto! – must accept whatever you decide. Do not worry, darling. Everything is going to be fine. I am going to be with you, I am going to protect you, I swear."

Krupal lifted himself just the necessary to reach Hinata's forehead and to kiss the skin, while with a hand he caressed her hair. He only separated from her the enough so she could put her head over his shoulder, thing which Hinata did.

Naruto had had enough. Maybe he was not the most brilliant person in the world, but certainly he was not a stupid; and to have to be a silent witness of how Randhawa was playing with Hinata's mind was more than what he could bear.

He step into the gazebo and cleared his throat, bringing the attention of the two in there over him.

"Naruto!" Hinata exclaimed as soon as her eyes was fixed on him.

Randhawa directed to Naruto an irritated look, which the blond returned with all the force of his anger.

Then he saw Hinata again.

In the moment he saw her eyes, it was obvious to him that she was quite trapped into the professor's influence, and that it was invisible for her the ropes with which Randhawa was trying to control her as she was a puppet. She was so immersed in the reality the other man was showing to her that Naruto felt scared.

It was more than clear for him that Hinata was being subject to a brainwashing, and Naruto, although it hurt him, had to accept with bitterness that he had a good portion of the blame. He did not only has ignored completely the strong feelings she had felt for him for so many years, but also she had endure to see him fell in love with a woman that was not her and the happiness he had shown for his relation; and only to be treated in a horrible way by him just for some false photographs.

He was the one who had prepared the ground to Krupal, so the only thing he had to do was to attract Hinata to him and convinced her that no one but him was going to love her in the way she deserved to be loved. If only Naruto would have not been that stupid to let everything happened; if only he would have been cleverer to see by himself how much in love was Hinata for him. But he could not change the past, and in that way prevent that a man as smart and evil as Krupal Randhawa showed up in her life.

After all, Sakura was right to be worry. Randhawa was a dangerous man who was changing Hinata's way of thinking (even he had convinced her that she needed him!) Naruto asked himself if he took the Hyuga's hand and dragged her with him, was she going to let him to separate her from Krupal?

Although Naruto was suffering very deeply the results of his blindness, he was pretty sure he was not going to leave the way easy to Randhawa anymore, so that he could continue doing whatever he wanted with Hinata. Now that he was in the battlefield, he was going to do everything he could to frustrate Krupal's plans, even though he had to engage in a cruel battle with the man.

He walked closer to Hinata, as if the presence of the third party was not there, and suddenly hugged her before saying to her ear:

"Forgive me."

The Uzumaki just separated the enough from her to see her face, which was red as tomato, and dedicated to her a sad smile.

And suddenly, as if his spirit had changed drastically, he said to his auditorium more enthusiastically:

"I have been looking for you through all the campus, Hinata! You do not know how much Sakura has scolded me for you disappearance, as if I was the culprit that you have disappeared of your residence without saying anything to her! Ouch! My head is hurting so badly, more than anything where she hit me! But I finally found you, and it makes me so happy! Where have you been, Hina-chan?"

"I… Me… I was…" Hinata stuttered, confused, as if she was asking herself if Naruto got suddenly crazy.

"Do not worry your pretty head, Hina-chan!" the blond continued with his staging. "I am going to tell a lie to Sakura so she does not bother you, but I only ask for one thing for such favor: you have to go with me to have some tea. This weather is so cold that I am almost freezing! And we have to make our plans about how we are going to spend this holiday and the days we can go out. Are you going to say "yes" to me, Hina-chan?"

Hinata was so confused that she did not know if to blush for the warm voice Naruto was using to say her nickname or to smile at his crazy behavior. Finally she nodded.

"Very well!" he exclaimed. "By the way", Naruto continued, pointing a finger to Krupal as if it was the first time he saw him, "who is this?"

"He is one of my teachers, and the new friend of which I had spoken to you", the Hyuga answered.

"Nice to meet you, mister…" the Uzumaki said, walking towards the man.

"Krupal Randhawa", the professor presented himself.

"I am Naruto Uzumaki."

"Oh! You are that famous Naruto Uzumaki!" Krupal said, raising an eyebrow. "Hinata has told me a lot about you."

"That is quite interesting", the blond said, seeing Hinata and winking to her in a mischievous way.

Hinata, of course, blushed even more.

Both men shook hands; and although Naruto was as tall as the other man, and his body constitution was almost the same, he could not stop the impression of being before a very powerful man, as if he was a cockroach almost crushed by his strong foot.

Even though of this he did not show any weakness to the man, and when they separated their hands, Naruto did not know which of the two hurt more by the forceful way they had squashed the hand of the other.

"So, are we going to have that tea?" Naruto asked Hinata.

The Hyuga nodded.

"Let's go, then. You can say goodbye to your friend."

"Until next time, Krupal", Hinata said.

"The same, Hinata. Take care."

Naruto put a hand behind Hinata's back so she could walk with him, but suddenly he excused himself. One of the laces of his shoe was untied. Could she be a darling and continue without him while he fixed the problem? It was going to be just a pair of minutes, he swore. He was going to be back with her in no time! Hinata smiled and did what the blond ask her, leaving the place.

But when Naruto bended down to tie his supposedly loose laces, he got up as immediately as Hinata left the gazebo.

"Did you do that on purpose, so she left us alone?" Krupal, who was still in the gazebo, asked.

"And what if I did it?" the Uzumaki blurted. "I thought it was going to be more convenient to us that she does not hear us."

"I agree with that", the other man said, smiling.

Both man saw themselves intensely, as two animals who were considering its enemy before fighting.

Naruto attacked first:

"Do you love her, do not you?"

"Yes, and do you?"

"More than anything", the Uzumaki said with his blue eyes shining furiously.

"So I suppose you want me out of her life", Krupal concluded, smiling sarcastically.

"More than out of her life, I do not want you to see her again!"

"And if I say no?"

Naruto's brows twitched.

"Maybe you have succeeded in controlling her life until now, but not anymore", he said with threatening voice. "I am going to make impossible for you to control her again, to put in her mind your ideas. You are a bad man for her, and I going to make sure you do not see her anymore!"

Krupal laughed.

"That comes of the man who has not paid attention to her and to her love for almost eighteen years? That is quite funny!"

Naruto stepped back, wounded by those true and painful words.

"Let me tell you something you do not know, Naruto Uzumaki", Krupal continued, suddenly leaning over his shoulder. "Do you know she has said to me this same morning that she wants to spend her life with me? She said it to me all by her, without me, as you have said, controlling her. Just admit you have lost, my friend."

The confession made Naruto paled, but the doubt moment did not last. With a movement of his arm, he pushed the man away of him.

"I am not going to believe in your words!" the Uzumaki said. "I am warning you, stay away of Hinata, or you are not going to like the consequences!"

He turned around and was about to leave the place when Krupal's words stopped him:

"I repeat myself: No."

Naruto frowned, but he did not say anything, preferring to leave the place and going to find Hinata.

When he reunited with Hinata, both of them went to a nearby cafeteria; and Naruto asked to waiter two cups of tea, as well as some pastries.

While he waited for the order, he dedicated some minutes to see Hinata. Although the traces of her recently crying had erased of her face, she was still keeping her shy posture. It was not an ability in him to discern correctly the human emotions only by seeing them plastered in the face of someone, but something said to him that Hinata wanted to tell something to him. And after some minutes passed, in which they kept between them an uncomfortable silence, he discovered that he was not so wrong:

"Are you mad with me?" the woman asked.

Naruto opened his eyes widely, very surprised by the question.

"How could I?" he said.

He saw as Hinata bit her lower lip, while frowning.

"It is just that… Sakura has told me so many things this morning… She said you were angry with me because you… well, you had discovered about my friendship with Krupal… and…"

"I am not going to lie to you, Hinata" the blond said, bringing over him an astonished look from the girl. "When I heard you were seeing someone, I felt a little… jealous? You are my friend after all, and as well a very important person to me."

Hinata blushed.

"But it would be stupid from my part to be mad at you just because you have a new friend! I only hope you do not get me out of your life because this relation you have with that Krupal Randhawa."

Hinata shook her head vigorously, entangling her hair.

"Do not worry", she said. "You are going to be my friend until the last day of my life", she added, smiling to him.

"The same!" the Uzumaki exclaimed.

"And something more", he thought, but, considering the circumstances, it was going to be an imprudence by his part to reveal to her the truth about his feelings.

Hinata got much more happy after that conversation, as if she had lift a heavy burden over her shoulders, and Naruto, seeing her as cheerful as she was, could not stop his happiness as well.

When the order arrived, they drank their teas and ate the pastries cheerfully, talking about trivial things, as how they were going to spend the winter holiday and the plans he had so they could share as many time possible together during the vacation. They stayed there for at last thirty minutes. Naruto paid what they had consumed, and both of them left the place, while putting on their coats and gloves.

Naruto was putting around his neck the scarf he had choose to wear that day when Hinata stopped him, pointing to the fabric with an amazed look.

"Are you wearing the scarf I gave to you in your birthday?"

Certainly, around the blond neck was the red scarf which Hinata had made for him.

The Uzumaki blushed and scratched his head.

"Did you realize it?" he said, ashamed. "It is the first time I wear it. It is very cozy, especially in this cold! Did you have made it for me?"

This time was Hinata's turn to blush.

She nodded.

"I never thanked you for this", Naruto said, taking one of the ends of the scarf in his hand.

"It was nothing! You do not have to thank me anything!" Hinata said, smiling.

Naruto offered to her a hand and Hinata took it, without blushing. The Uzumaki entwined their fingers, inside in their respective gloves, and walked with her away from there.

Maybe Hinata was captive by Krupal's way of thinking. Maybe Naruto could not stop Vanessa of doing once again one of her treacheries, or could not protect Hinata every time of Randhawa's influence. Maybe they could not stop the impact that this two persons had in their lives, but one thing was sure: even though everything fought against them, Naruto was going to stay at Hinata's side, and he was positive that Hinata was going to do the same because it was clear as water to him that she loved him in the same way he loved her.

* * *

When David Craig had decided to be a police, he had known beforehand that he was not going to have an easy life, and that the frustration for a wrong done job or an endeavor without achievements was going to be his daily bread.

As a detective he had had experience such sensation more times than he would have liked. But always, thanks to his great cleverness and perseverance, he had surpassed all those troubles jauntily, even the most stressful; and his good work and effort had made him to gain the admiration of all his coworkers, as well as the chief inspector.

But it did not mean that Craig was immune of the negative experiences. In more than one occasion he had felt as if a part of his soul had got corrupt in those moments in which the frustration had brought out the worst of him, even making him to want to achieve his objective by any means, even though he must to approach dangerously to the borders of the illegality.

When he had accepted to take charge of the red-eyed monster case he had done it with the sensation of wanting to impose the goodness in those places where the murderer had spread the evilness which surrounded him. The first time his boss had told him the details about the matter, that detective avid to hunt the demons of the society and to put an end to their legacy of terror, had woken up with all his fury, and Craig had launched himself to the battle with maybe too much enthusiasm.

Such spending of energy was passing now to him the receipt of the cost for its excessive use. After six victims, without any clue that could help him to put a name or a face to the assassin, and the legend of the unstoppable red-eyed monster spread through the country, with was the joy of the tabloids that made fun of the police, that heroic detective had vanished to leave behind a man that did not know what to do with his life.

Time had been inexorable for the detective, as if the course of the days, of the weeks, of the months were reclaiming the man for his ineptitude; condemning him for every second that had passed in which the man had not put behind jail, as he had promised, the red-eyed demon.

The murderer had stopped to be a normal human being to transform in front of his eyes in the obscure shadow that tormented his nights, and laughed at him while his red eyes sparkled in the obscurity of his fears. Thanks to the ghost of that demon, Craig was not more the admired policeman, but a reminiscent of the man who once he was used to be.

When the fifth victim had died he had though that soon, some time, it was going to arrive the moment in which the red-eyed murderer would commit a foolishness, that at last the opportunity he was waiting for to discover a direct path to the assassin was going to be a reality. But time had passed by and nothing had happened. Neither the diary left by the sixth victim, Sarah Black, had been enough for him – or for the psychopathologist, to whom he had asked for help – to see through the fog which surrounded all the mystery that infamous killer had created.

"What I could comprehend", the doctor had said to him, when he had interviewed him, "it is that the red-eyed monster is a very good looking man, very attractive, with the enough amount of charisma and self-trust to believe that he can conquer any woman he desires, and kill her. I have seen as well that, from what the dead woman had described, that he enjoys a lot to make young women to fall in his games. I refer to seduce them. But with what motive he does it, it is impossible for me to say."

"But how he knows which is the one he wants?!" the detective had asked with impatience. "Which are the standards he uses to elect his victim?!"

"I do not know!" the other man had exclaimed. "Maybe if I can have some more information… More clues…"

"Which part of 'that bastard does not leave any trace behind him' do you not understand?!"

The truth was that to pay his bad humor with the doctor Karl Olson, even though it had not been correct, had helped him to free of his shoulders a little of the tensions; but just momentarily. When the psychopathologist had retired, with the promise to assist him as soon as he had new information, Craig had remembered that the affair was as immovable as always, and that the red-eyed monster, whoever he was, was still mocking at him from the darkness.

It could be said that from that moment the detective's sanity had begun to crack.

But if David Craig had not enough with an unsolved case, which was already making him crazy, he unconsciously had asked to someone to put a chisel and a hammer against what still remained of his mental force when he had accepted to take charge of the matter of Patrick O'Beirne's murder, as well as the other three young beings found dead with him.

When the chief inspector had offered to him the case, suspecting that it had some kind of relation with the red-eyed monster's assassins, Craig had accepted the job more for compromise that for the want to do it.

Just to start, that someone could compare the two cases was an insanity for him. The most probably thing that had happened, knowing as he knew the young of these days, was that the four of them had found shelter in that rotten motel to have some drugs, and when they had wanted to buy the drugs something had occurred with the drug dealer to which they had appealed, the same one who had murdered them in consequence. Where were the dismembered bodies, one of the characteristics in the dead women which the red-eyed killer had left behind? Why some of the dead found in the scene had been shot when it the red-eyed murderer was used to kill with knives? Craig had thought that definitely such comparison was absurd and baseless.

But most of all he had accepted the case with the illusion that if he could solve it, the achievement was going to be more than a good incentive to make him to have again the energy to battle against the red-eyed monster.

However, even though he had tried to find out what had happened from different perspectives, the failure called again to his door, making him even angrier than what he already was.

He did not only have not accomplished to dissipate the mystery of the affair, but that case had a similarity with the one he was trying so hard to resolve: both of them refused to be solved. Even though at the beginning he had maintained his hypothesis that everything was a matter of drugs, after realizing exhaustive investigations and to interview the correct people he had had to discard the theory immediately.

Maybe, he thought, Patrick O'Beirne had seen something he was not supposed to see and for that reason he had been killed, the same as his friends? Craig had obtained a quite general idea of the manner of being of the death man, thanks of what his friends and family had said to him, and he had concluded that the young man had lacked the enough amount of intelligent and modesty to worry about what was happening around him. The detective must discard that idea as well.

He also had taken in account what had happened with miss Hyuga and the obscene photographs uploaded to Internet supposedly about her, but which were taken to one of the "friends" of mister O'Beirne, the same one who was found dead in the motel. At the beginning Craig had though that the young woman, helped by her father's money, had hired a killer to make her ex-boyfriend to disappear, but as soon as he had met Hinata Hyuga in person he had known that such idea was illogical. The young woman was too kind, too gentile, to imagine her doing something like that; besides, how the dead of the man was going to help her, especially when she had asked for a trial against him? Miss Hyuga won more by letting him live than killing him in the search of justice.

He had the same idea about the father of the girl, that famous businessman, Hiashi Hyuga, who had made a lot of money by selling exquisite mansions to rich people, and allowing them to live in peace in their new home by hiding them from the troublesome people – as the police –, as if the earth had swallow them as soon as they had moved. According to the rumors he had heard, the man was the type of person who liked to crush his enemies as if they were cockroach. What if the man had known about what had happened with his daughter? Even though the theory was quite attractive, and there were arguments that could give him the reason, soon Craig must to erase the hypothesis of his mind.

Ideas came back and forth in his mind with the velocity of the speed of the sound; and when the detective could not create any more hypothesis, he had to admit that the case was actually what he saw with naked eye: a mysterious person had appeared in the motel in where the four young beings were staying, killing them and later retreat from the place without leaving no the single trace of his presence, and then a fanatic of the red-eyed monster (as if that demon deserved to have people which idolized him!) had come to the scene to carve in their foreheads the already famous firm of his idol.

But, who was that unknown man, of whom the security cameras had not been able to record his face? Who was the mysterious murderer? The chief inspector had confessed to him his suspicions that the crimes committed by the red-eyed monster and that killer were connected; and if something both cases had in common it was the perfection of their assassins. Both men had been so meticulous and cold that no one of them had left, until now, a clue to the police so the agents of the law could follow their traces.

Could he admit that the two murderers were connected? Maybe, he thought, abusing of his imagination, both men were the members of some kind of sect, which trained their followers to be the perfect lethal weapon. Or perhaps they were the same person! (Craig must to confess that such idea was stupid.)

But what was true in all that was that this second failure had been more painful of what the detective had thought initially; and he reached a point where nonsensical ideas appeared in his mind and grew that much that they turned into horrible monsters which tormented his sanity, as the obsession he had developed towards the person of Krupal Randhawa since that day that he had arrested him by the suspicion to be related with the red-eyed monster.

When he had met Randhawa in the university, where he worked, an idea, rather an inspiration, had illuminated all the detective's being. He could not say why, but a necessity stronger than him to interrogate the man had grown in him; and by any resource, even if he had to draw upon to the most incredible of the excuses, he had been disposed to put around his wrist the handcuffs and to take him to the police station. And to tell the true, Randhawa did not make it difficult for him. His eyes were red, as the same nickname which the murderer that had transformed into the nightmare of the society had obtained. Craig always had asked himself if such sobriquet had been assigned to the assassin for his demoniac nature or because the journalists imagined him with that color of eyes. The detective never had met in his life a person with a characteristic as that man had, reason for why that detail of his physiognomy had not gone unnoticed to him as a good excuse to arrest the professor.

But the astonishment had not ended there. When Craig had taken the man to the police station and had imprisoned him, in one of those provisional jails with which the agents of the law counted to imprison for some hours the persons considered to be suspect of crimes, he had observed terrified the attitude of the agency's female staff. Randhawa had achieve that cold women, who maintained a respectful distance with the people inside the police station, and which were completely professional, melted before him as if the man was owner of a singular magnetism. Even some of them had treated the man with a great deference, bringing him water when he said he was thirsty or making him company when the man complained how bored he felt. A very few, included Alice (the detective had been happy to know that his "little sister" had been immune to the man's charm), had been able to escape unhurt of the tentacles that Randhawa had extended around him.

Krupal Randhawa had many of the characteristics described by the doctor Olson as belonging to the red-eyed monster. And if he took in consideration that this was the man's eyes color, could not he assume that both the red-eyed murderer and that man had a similitude, that they were the same person? If he only could count with the advantage of the assassin's DNA, so he could compared it to the professor's one, or some fingerprints, but Craig could only dream with such possibilities.

Even so, two days later, since he did not have any clue to prove his theory, he had to liberate Krupal Randhawa. And was in that moment when everything began to go downhill for the detective.

Days had passed slowly for Craig, as the sand had go down parsimoniously through the thin waist of an hourglass, until December had knocked in his door, and the snow had begun to accumulate in the streets. It had elapsed a month since Sarah Black had been killed, and Craig had not been able to get anything clear from her death. It had gone by seven months since the red-eyed demon had made his first appearance, and had transformed in the deadly ghost who terrified every human being in the world, and until then the detective did not have either the slightest clue to follow his trace. A month as well had lapsed since four young beings had been found dead in a motel, and the police could not have done anything to solve the mystery. No one could blame the detective for felt impatience and stressed.

But one thing was the common impatience and stress that every police, at least one time in their career, felt, and one totally different the anarchic thoughts and tumultuous sensations the detective had begun to experience since he had had to liberate Krupal Randhawa.

Although he knew he had not any proof against him, Craig could not take out of his head the idea that he was his murderer. What did it matter if he did not have any manner to demonstrate it? He was sure that the man was the red-eyed demon, the assassin of Patrick O'Beirne! His eyes were red, for God sake! Was it not an enough evidence of his guiltiness? Was it not enough to proof the true identity that was hidden behind that mask of a college professor?

Craig, contrary of what he would have done in a calmer situation, had fixed in his mind as an objective to demonstrate the culpability of the man, task he had begun to put in action as soon as Patrick's case began to get cold. Instead of writing Randhawa's name in a suspects list and to continue on while he waited for an evidence which confirmed his suspicions about the man, the detective had got obsess that this person was the culprit of all the horror, of so many deaths.

Of course, his change of humor did not get unnoticed by his coworkers. All the people who appreciated Craig for his good job as a detective asked themselves what was going on with him. But no one worried more about him as the chief inspector and Alice.

The chief inspector had tried to do everything that he could draw upon to calm down the detective and to liberate from his shoulders the anxiety affecting him, but Craig had refused roundly to be taken out of Patrick's case, as well as to accept the help of other policemen in the matter of the red-eyed demon. Both of them were his cases, and he was going to resolve them by showing once and for all that Krupal was the mastermind behind the crimes!

Alice had tried to make him company, to make him feel that he was not alone, but even the tactics of the young woman had slipped in him as if he was covered in oil. The girl, seeing him as mentally tired as he was, was holding her pain before the reality of the devastated state in which her beloved policeman was.

She made all the efforts she had been able to plot so she could make him to stop in the auto destructive path in which he was walking; as what she was doing right now:

"Maybe you should take a rest of all this work", she was trying to reason with him. "At least take some days to relax. After all, the red-eyed monster has not appeared again, and you need to renovate energies."

"And to cross arms while I can stop him so he can not commit any more crimes?! No, Alice, do not ask me that! You have seen, as well as I did, the power he has with women! The psychopathologist had told me! Everything he have said to me match with Krupal Randhawa's personality!"

"Well", she said, blushing, changing the subject, "he is quite handsome."

"You too? Did you fell in his game after all?!"

"That I consider him a good looking man do not mean I have developed some kind of feelings for him. I… I love another person."

"I am glad to hear that! I am sure the man you have chosen to love is someone who deserves you!"

To the detective did not get unnoticed the sigh that had left Alice's mouth after he had said that last phrase; and he thought, frowning, that perhaps the young woman was in love with someone who had not realized about her feelings for him. There were so many obtuse people in the world!

Even though the resistances, Craig had been able to do what he wanted with relating peace, but two weeks after December arrival the chief inspector had lost his patience. When he had called the detective at the end of that busy Friday, a part of the man had intuited that something was going to appear before him to hinder his job.

This was what his boss said to him when he entered in the office:

"Craig, I have been very patience with you. You are my best detective, and you have gained my trust with your excellent work. But I can not bear any more seeing as you are losing your sanity, still insisting that this man, this Krupal Randhawa, is the red-eyed killer! I can understand that you want to put him on the list of the suspects. I can comprehend that your intuition is saying to you that it is him. But you do not have any proof to continue harassing this man! We are policemen, for God sake, not judges! Sometimes we have to do what is correct, even though it does not agree our expectations!"

At what Craig had answered:

"If you only allow me to put him behind jail, just for a short time… If you only can convince a judge for to let me do it… I can demonstrate to you with irrefutable evidence that this man is our killer. I can bet to you that the murders of the red-eyed monsters are going to end! I only need an opportunity to…!"

"That is enough!" the chief inspector shouted. "The only thing you are going to do right now is to make your luggage and to go to spend Christmas with your family! It is an order, and if you can not follow it, I will take you out of this case immediately!"

Against his will, the detective accepted the order of his superior.

"And do not even think to take the job with you to your house, Craig!" the chief inspector continued, as if he was reading his mind. "If I find out you have taken out from this agency anything related to the two cases in which you are working on, I am going to fire you as soon as you return!"

The threat was as a knife stabbing his chest, but once more, and again against him, Craig accepted the demand.

This was the reason for which right now he was in one of those interurban train stations, waiting to climb to his train while Alice made him company.

When the train made his well-known alert of last minute, so the travelers that were outside the vehicle could aboard it, David Craig stepped closer to his companion and hugged her with force.

"Take care, Alice", he said. "Did you remember what I have told you? If you need me for anything, if something happen…"

"I am going to call you immediately!" Alice completed the sentence for him, smiling. "Do not worry! Take care you too, please, and I hope you a Merry Christmas."

"The same to you, my little sister!"

The woman smiled once more; but suddenly, as if she had remembered something, she jumped on herself and took out of her bag a small brass box, which she gave to the detective.

"For you, as my Christmas present."

David Craig took it, while smiling to the young woman. Inside the box was waiting for him a bunch of homemade chocolate cookies. To show how grateful he was with the gift, he grabbed one of them and gave it a bite.

They were quite delicious, as the detective let it known to his companion.

"I am glad you like it!" Alice exclaimed.

"I wish I can have something for you", the detective said with sad voice.

"Do not worry!" the young woman calmed him.

"When I return I am going to give my gift to you, alright?"

Alice nodded vigorously with her head, making the detective to smile.

The train sounded its annoying alert for a second time, and David Craig climbed inside it. As soon as he had put his feet inside the vehicle, the automatic doors of the machine closed up and it began to move. The detective did not stop to wave his hand towards Alice from the window until the young woman was not more than a tiny point in the horizon.

David Craig did not earn a good salary as a detective, but he earned the enough to allow himself certain luxuries once in a while, as to pay for a first class compartment in the train. The chief inspector had convinced his superiors to give the detective a pretty sum of money as compensation for his arduous efforts, and the man had used part of these earnings to permit to himself the comfort (even more when the train's destiny was little frequented, and it had been made substantial offers to the travelers to fill as many spaces as possible).

When Craig arrived to his comfortable compartment, his suitcase was waiting for him inside. He put a bag, which he was holding in one of his hands, in one of the corners of the long divan-bed and then removed his coat, hanging it in one special hanger attached to one of the walls. Then he took off the gloves after depositing Alice's gift in the table fixed to the floor. Once he felt comfortable, he lay down in the seat, and, using his bag as a pillow, he relaxed to get some sleep during the long journey.

But when he was almost to fall asleep, knocks in the door alerted him. Craig stood up and saw the person who had interrupted his intentions to sleep. At the other side of the compartment's entrance one of the waiters of the train was waiting for him, holding what the detective thought were a book and a wine bottle.

David Craig let him in, and the waiter asked:

"Are you mister David Craig?"

The detective nodded.

"This is for you", the waiter continued, extending towards him the book and the bottle.

"But what is this?" Craig asked. "Courtesy of the train company?"

"No, sir. One of the visitors of the station gave me this for you. He asked me to give the book and the bottle to you, mister."

Craig could see from the corner of his eyes the one hundred dollars bill which stuck out of the waiter's pocket.

The detective thanked the waiter, and, as soon as the other left the place, he observed both objects, frowning. Who, if not someone from the police, had gifted him that? The bottle of wine was from a Chilean vineyard, what a treat! Anyone who had bought it for him had paid a great sum of money for it. As to the book, it was a pocket novel, consistent in various pages, called _Shadows in the Window_ , written by some Elizabeth Clarke.

Craig initially thought that it was one of those kinds of books for teenagers, which were so popular in these days, but he discarded the idea after reading the synopsis of the book. The novel was about a group of friends, six to be exact, which were murdered in mysterious ways, and the police did not know what to do to catch the killer.

The detective could not stop of to draw a smile on his face. What a coincidence had the book with what was happening in his life!

But his surprised was even greater when he opened the cover of the book and found out a dedication written down to him:

"My dear detective, I felt we have begun our relationship with the wrong foot. To demonstrate to you my good faith I want to gift you this book, that I am sure you are going to find inspirational. I hope that in this manner, when you finally understand the mystery of the story, some fascinate ideas will grew up in your brain, so I can feel I am, well, I am being persecuted by someone. My wish for this Christmas is to finally experience the sensation that a person as intelligent as you is going to catch me! I also hope you like the wine. I gave it to you so you can share it with your family during this festivity in my name. I assure you that you are going to find that it is an excellent beverage to drink in this season, and I am sure you are going to enjoy it.

I hope you take into account my most sincere affection for you."

And under everything, as a sign, an eye with a vertical pupil was seeing him.

David Craig had to seat to not faint or, better say, to not begin to broke every object in the compartment in consequence of the fury he was feeling in that moment.

"Fucking bastard!" he said angrily.

The red-eyed monster had searched for a ticket direct to jail.

Meanwhile, still in the station, Alice Brown was seeing the rails for which the train had taken away her love. Because yes, she was in love with the detective. When she had told him about the man she loved, she was referring to him, although the policeman had not captured the idea. Obviously, Alice had not said anything to him about her feelings for him, afraid of his reaction; but it did not mean she was suffering less by that.

She sighed, feeling that without David Craig that Christmas was going to be quite sad. But, in the other hand, it had been the better thing that could have happened to the police; and when one love another person it must be an obligation to support it in the good and the bad, even though its decisions could make you to suffer. She wished with her heart compressed by the expectation that the return to his home was going to help him to regain the energy she admired so much in him.

She was thinking in to go back to her home when some touches in her shoulder made her jumped. When she turned around, she found out that one of the station's workers was watching her. He was extending towards her a rectangular white carton sheet and a rose incredibly red.

"For you, miss", the man said with nervousness.

"Who…?" Alice murmured, surprised.

"A man, who did not identify himself, gave me them, for you."

Alice took both objects while thanking the man. The first thing she did was to smell the rose, and she got excited in the delicious fragrance; but when she observed that kind of white carton sheet whichever promise the flower was making to her vanished, while the fear flooded her senses. There, drawn with red ink, an eye with a vertical pupil was looking back at her. Alice felt like she was going to faint.

"Do you feel sick, miss?! Do you need me to call an ambulance?! You are quite pale!" the man exclaimed.

Alice tried to recover. Even though she had recognized the red-eyed demon firm, she had to be lucid if she wanted to get out of there.

"No, I am fine", she murmured. "I just need a taxi."

"Follow me, miss. Let me to accompany you outside of the station. Any taxi drivers parked there will be glad to drive you anywhere you want."

While this happened, in another part of the station a man, who was serenely sat in one on the banquette along the platform, and which was smoking with an uninterested air at the same time he was reading a newspaper, pulled down momentarily the grey sheets of the diary to see how the young woman was being conducted outside the place.

People walked back and forth the platform, but not one of them took a second of their time to see this unknown man; or if anyone saw him, the most probably thing that would happen was that an insult against the foreign people escaped from its mouth.

But not one of the persons stopped a moment to think about the real nature of the man sat there, because if someone had done it he or she would have ran to the more nearby phone and called the police. Because that man was nothing less than the red-eyed monster in person.

And the red-eyed monster could not feel happier. In a way that neither himself had predicted the hunter who was trying to trap him had gone out of the game, and now, as the greedy wolf he was, he was going to take the path that was opened before him directly to the innocent little red riding hood. He was going to have some much fun!

* * *

In the city where this story is taking place Christmas time was very precious by the citizens living in it, especially by the traditional activities which took place in this season. There were events such as a competition, for the children more than anything, which gave a prize to anyone who made the best snowman, or an award to the family who decorated its house in the most extravagant way.

But that Christmas the atmosphere felt different. That was a different type of Christmas, one sad and melancholic. And only one person was the culprit behind that spirit: the red-eyed monster.

In that moment of the year when it was reaching its end, every citizen felt the responsibility to feel bad for these six women who had fall preys of the monstrous killer, as if in any time in the past days they had felt any sympathy towards them. Even the happier of the residents, who had been waiting eagerly for the Christmas time, was been seen with angry looks by those who thought that this was not the time to feel any type of happiness. They asked themselves: could it be possible to celebrate when in that same city a demon disguised as a man was walking freely through the same streets they transited, killing innocent girls?

For these reason that year the Mayor had decided to suspend every of those funny and traditional activities to allow the civilians to pay their tribute to the dead young. Every church of the surroundings celebrated special Masses in honor of those women; a group of citizens agreed to pay a visit to the cemetery, where the dead were buried; and even one of the parks of the locality had been disposed as a place where people could leave flowers and candles to the red-eyed monster's victims.

And while these activities were taking place, at the same time the people gathered to pay their homage, there was not person who not asked themselves if that man with brown hair and who was wearing glasses, or that other of taciturn aspect, was not the killer. Everyone murmured fearfully their suspicions, imagining a man with demoniac features that walked through them with flowers in his hands, wanting to taunt of his victims with a false act of remorse, while his red eyes sparkled under the dancing flames of the candles.

Another tradition, this more private, was the one who annually celebrated the most recognized and richer family of the surroundings, the Uchiha. Every Christmas the millionaire family made a party to celebrate the season, and it was one tradition that few the people had the privilege to assist, where gathered the best of the best of the society.

But in that opportunity Mikoto Uchiha, the matriarch of the family, and who was in charge of the preparations of the party mentioned above, had some different ideas for the one she was proposed to organize that year. Or, better said, those ideas were been introduced in her brain by a foreign voice, and the schemes of that person sounded so convincing to her ears that Mikoto was absorbing them as if those were hers.

And that person who was trying to convince her was a woman named Kushina Uzumaki.

Kushina and she were friends for many years, and both women shared in common a lot of things, as that their sons were friends, bond that made their friendship even stronger. But in the same way, they had quite differences.

In their way of being, Kushina and Mikoto had been always very different. While Mikoto had a calm and appeased behavior, Kushina was a very decisive woman, who apparently did not fear anything. Even their ways of talking were not the same. Mikoto counted with a soft and sweet voice, and Kushina, although her voice could be incredible sweet sometimes, when she got angry she could be a total beast, scaring even the braver of the men.

In their physical aspect they also were quite different. Mikoto was a tall woman, with a fragile and white skin, with an appearance as delicate as a flower, which hid behind her long black hair and her sweet black eyes. Kushina was also a tall woman, but she did not have that breakable feature of the matriarch of the Uchiha family. She could look like a woman needed of a strong arm to protect her, but her dark blue eyes told a different story. Fire sparkled in them, as the flames which represented her long red hair, the most amazing characteristic of Kushina.

Also, when it came to machinations, Kushina was most witty than Mikoto, as she was demonstrating right now:

"I am telling you, this is a brilliant plan! The best I have had!" she was saying. "I am sure everything is going to go smoothly, as I wish! I only need your help, Mikoto! Please! I am sure Fugaku is not going to say no! What do you think?" Kushina added with excited voice.

"I… well… I think it is a good plan… And I am positive I am not going to have problem to convince my husband, he knows very well I have tried to invite you and your family to my parties (every Christmas you are out of the city!)… But, are you sure that this is what Naruto wants?"

Naruto was Kushina's son; and Mikoto comprehended very well the maternal love she felt for him because she had the same for her son. But sometimes she considered that her friend was too much overprotective towards her son.

Mikoto had learned a long time ago that at certain time mothers like her had to let free their children, especially when they had more than twenty years old. She knew that Kushina had learned that lesson as well, but even though she had freed Naruto to live his life as he wanted, she had made sure that the cord, which she had used to maintain her son next to her, was still around the boy's waist, so, if she wanted to do so, she could drag him towards her anytime she considered it necessary.

Mikoto could not blame her, because Kushina had lost her husband when Naruto was just one year old. It was compressible that the woman was afraid for her son, but it did not mean that she did not think that sometimes her friend exaggerated a little with her maternal attentions, as she was doing in that moment.

Instead of answering her question, Kushina made a move with her hand, so Mikoto could follow her, and both women approached silently to the door, a door with arc form, which separated the kitchen – place where they were – of the living room, where it could be seen three heads peeking out behind edge of a large armchair, with their faces towards a big television.

Mikoto recognized in one of the heads her son, Sasuke. The only head with blond hair belonged to Naruto. The other was a woman head, a girl Mikoto knew very well for the close familiar bond the Uchiha and the Hyuga shared. The only woman in the group was Hinata Hyuga; and Kushina, hid behind the wall, moved one of her fingers to one side to the other, pointing out now to Naruto and in the next movement to Hinata.

She continued with that dance for a few more minutes before murmuring:

"I am sure he is in love with her…"

Mikoto did not debate that phrase, and neither looked like she was amazed. The truth was that she had her suspicions about the feelings the Hyuga girl professed for the only son of the Uzumaki marriage. It was not like she liked to gossip, but in more than one occasion she had been participant of the shy behavior of the young Hyuga in front of the blond. Besides Sasuke had confessed to her that his girlfriend, a woman named Sakura, was making great efforts so Hinata and Naruto could be together. But, was it true that the young Uzumaki loved the girl as well? She did not want to disrespect Kushina, but was she not exaggerating? Her friend tended to get too excited sometimes, even when she did not have any proof to do it, and Mikoto felt that the illusion that her son was in love with Hinata was rather a confusion by her part.

But before Mikoto could put in word her doubts, she saw it. She saw that Kushina was right. Although Sasuke and Naruto were playing a video game, the Uzumaki looked like that for him his friend was not there, and that the only thing that mattered to him was the woman next to him. The blond was so concentrated in seeing Hinata, in to talk to her, and even to make her laugh, than in more than one occasion Sasuke had to hit him with the joystick so he could remember his presence.

Mikoto, even though her son was suffering the lack of concentration of his friend towards him, felt immediately touched. Kushina was right. It was clear as water to her that Naruto liked Hinata. When she saw once more her friend, Kushina was seeing her with certain arrogance, as if she was boasting for being right.

Both women returned to their initial positions, in the farthest point in the kitchen from the living room, in the table in which they had been seated moments before, in front of two cups of coffee still hot.

"I told you!" Kushina exclaimed.

"You are right. I should not have doubt of you", Mikoto confessed. "I thought… that you were imagining it…"

"I am offended that you doubt about me, Mikoto!" the redhead exclaimed with a false tone of anger. "He was with another girl – I do not even remember her name! -, but it looks like they have broken up, what makes me quite happy because, even though Hinata is too shy for my taste, I like her even more than the other. Besides, it is the first time I see him as that attentive with a girl! He is truly in love with her, Mikoto! And I, as his mother, have to do everything I can to help him! Because of this I ask you, be my accomplice!"

Mikoto sighed. Kushina's plan was as easy as dangerous. The matriarch of the Uchiha family used to invite her Hyuga relatives to the Christmas party, but Hiashi Hyuga had always found the way to free himself of the obligation; but his ruse was going to end that same Christmas because Mikoto was going to convince him to stay in her house during the season with his two daughters. Once she had obtained that, the only thing she had to do was to extend an invitation to Kushina and her family so they could be in her home as well for Christmas; and in that way made the perfect environment for Hinata and Naruto to be together, and, as Kushina had said, to let the love to flourish between them.

The truth was that Mikoto did not dislike the plan altogether, better said, she did not dislike it at all. Be the one who was helping two representatives of the young generation was intoxicatingly exciting. But she could not stop thinking that to force the two to be together was not maybe the best idea. The worst part of the people came out to light when they were subjected to pressure, and Mikoto was afraid that Hinata's shyness infected Naruto as well, and in that way neither of the two were not capable to confess their love to the other, or that the blond learned that his mother was behind the complot, getting angry with her.

But Kushina was seeing her in such way, with her eyes shining in a mix of emotion and supplication, that Mikoto found difficult to say her no, and sooner than later she was nodding with her head.

"Thank you, Mikoto! You do not know how much grateful I am!" Kushina exclaimed, embracing her.

"I only hope your plan works out", Mikoto said, sighing.

The next day Mikoto confessed to her husband, while they were having the breakfast:

"I want to invite the Uzumaki and the Hyuga to pass this Christmas season with us. Only if you want, of course."

Both Fugaku Uchiha and Sasuke saw her with eyes opened as dishes, with a toast halfway toward their mouth.

"Are you sure of that?" the patriarch of the Uchiha family said hoarsely.

Mikoto nodded vehemently.

"Alright. I do not see any problem", the man continued.

"Thanks, darling!"

After all, Mikoto thought with a smile, while her husband and son continued to see her with amazed expressions, that Christmas could be very funny.

* * *

I hope you like the chapter. If that so, please leave me a review or follow my story, I going to be very grateful. The next chapter is going to be what I call the "Christmas arc", and it is going to have a lot of Naru/Hina moments, as well as a revelation, so stay tune.

See you in the next chapter!


	8. Chapter VIII

**The red-eyed monster**

 _A series of murders against young and innocent's women put in check the police and the society. Without clues or any links to lead the police to the whereabouts of this cruel monster, can Hinata Hyuga be saved in time before her name join the list of the victims of the so call red-eyed demon?_

 **Disclaimer:** Naruto and its characters don't belong to me, but Masashi Kishimoto.

Sorry for my english, it's the first time I write in english. I beg your pardon for my grammar errors.

* * *

I want to apologize for the delay of the chapter (once again). I have many problems in my life, and I am afraid that these are the kind of problems you can't fix, but you have to accept; but I will do my best to publish the next chapter as soon as possible.

This is a quite long chapter, the first one I write in Naruto's perspective, I hope you like it. As I have promised in the chapter seven, it contain a lot of Naru/Hina moments, and also a clue that can deveal the name of the red-eyed monster (in spite of I am positive that all you know who he is).

And as ever I want to remember that everything that happen in the story have happened for something, but in the end Naruto and Hinata will be together.

Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter VIII**

One of Naruto's life laws was that with hard work and faith any goal could be reached, even though how complicated or out of reach it looked. And if of something the Uzumaki did not lack was of a great quantity of faith, especially in his capacities. It was for this reason that some days before, when winter vacations had not begun yet, that he had trusted that to conquer Hinata's heart and put her away of the malign influence of Krupal Randhawa would be projects that he could obtain, and, sinning a little of pride, with a certain facility.

But soon he had realized, while the days passed and his attempts became more and more continuous, that to reach Hinata's heart looked more complex of what he had believed. Even though he had the certainty, almost the advantage, to know the feelings Hinata professed for him, which gave him the benefit to express with more liberty, because he was sure that the love Hinata felt for him was pure and true, and that his sentiments had great possibilities to be received with approval, Naruto crashed intermittently against the control Randhawa had in her.

Maybe Naruto was not the most sharpened pencil between the others, but neither was so stupid to not see the tangles of threads which were intertwined in the young woman's heart thanks to will of Krupal Randhawa, and with which he was trying to take control of her life. He had had already the opportunity to witness the government which that dangerous man had upon her, but during those days in which he had been at her side, trying to conquer her, that impression had got much stronger in him. Whichever had been the tricks Randhawa had used with her, whatever had been the words with which he had reached her mind and soul, but he was succeeding in submitting Hinata to his desires, even to the point to control every thought that went through the brain of the young woman. Whatever Krupal had said against him to Hinata had worked, because Naruto's advances ended up in failures as soon as he laid them out to reality.

So Naruto thought that only one solution could put an end to his suffer. To conquer Hinata's heart, he first must make her forget Krupal.

It was not anymore the whimsical necessity of a man who loved the same woman that other one loved too and seek to get rid of his contender. No, now it was a necessity, not only to reach Hinata's heart, but to definitely take her apart of an influence he knew it was bad for her. Even though he had not reach the step in which Sakura was, who thought that the first grade professor's assistant was nothing less than the same red-eyed killer, he truly believed, and with an extraordinary firmness, that Krupal Randhawa was a dangerous man who had to be afar of the Hyuga urgently.

When it came to his little personal wars, Naruto had certain experiences with them. His level of intelligence could not be compared with the levels that Sasuke or Shikamaru, his friend who was a genius, had, but the Uzumaki easily stood out as a good strategist. Soon he reasoned that to reach his goal he ought to not launch hastily to the battlefield, but he must steadily and silently approach, without attracting Randhawa's attention so he could not spoil his plan, and to make Hinata to see, with love, that he also was there for her, that everything Krupal had promised to her he could triple it and improve it.

But once again, from that side, failure seemed to call to his door.

Naruto had a great ability to make that other people could see his point of view and taken it as faith of life; and when it came to Hinata he had had many opportunities to see that the Hyuga had a weak spot for him. But in that opportunity Hinata seemed completely blind to his intentions. Every time he saw her, Naruto tried to show to her how valuable was her friendship for him, emphasizing every time he spoke about this with her that if she needed him he was going to be there for her no matter what. And in every opportunity he did this she smiled to him, saying that she also considered his friendship as an important part of her life. But his efforts did not pass that roof. It looked like the blond was destined to never reach the podium of honor in Hinata's heart, as Randhawa had done, and that reality could not make him angrier.

An irritation which, besides, increased a snowy afternoon of those first days of vacation. Because of her stressful career, and even more because of her wicked professor (of whom Naruto had heard enough thanks to what Sakura had told about him), the poor Hinata, as well as her classroom mates, had begun the winter holiday with a long list assignment of tasks, which seemed to have no end. For this reason Krupal Randhawa, in another act of his "kind" heart, had decided to organized reunions, in which the students could gather to receive help in their homework. Naruto, taking that event as an opportunity to be near to Hinata and at the same time to take a closer look to his rival in love, had offered the young woman to accompany her to those reunions, and the one of that afternoon was not the exception.

Until then he had waited for Hinata outside the place where the reunion was celebrated, awaiting for the chance to accompany her to her house, or everywhere she wanted. However, that afternoon he, as Sasuke – who was with him waiting for Sakura (with whom the Uzumaki had had already the opportunity to reconcile with after what had happened with the Hyuga) – lost his temper when Hinata did not come out at the same time her classmates were leaving the place. He decided to enter and to see what was happening, and his spirit already heated became a force he only could control barely.

The blond made a great effort to not get out of control when he saw the loving way in which Krupal was holding Hinata's hand. He was not angry with Hinata, but with Krupal; and as soon as his blue eyes connected with red ones of the man he showed through them how irate he was. But what he watched, rather, what he intuited did not cooperate to calm his anger. Even though he could not see them naked eyes, he could discern how the horrible threads which were around Hinata's heart tightened around her as she was a doll with whom he could play and toss whenever he wanted. And the seeing of that made him to clench his fists.

In that moment he was surer than ever that he had to broke with that dangerous union, but how? His continuous failures with Hinata were making him to believe that his efforts would be always in vain, and thinking like that was enough to make that one part of him got depressed, until the point in which he wanted to give up, to abandon definitely the matter he had between hands, and to accept to see how his heart broke apart.

Where was his promise that he was going to fight for her even though he had to die trying? Where was that light that had taken possession of his spirit when he had realized, that last day of class, that Hinata loved him in spite of being mentally trapped in the wiles of Krupal Randhawa? Naruto felt angry with himself, irritated by his lack of optimism and his desire to give up, but the true was that every moment that he failed in his mission it was harder to him to stand up again.

But in the moment the Uzumaki took refuge in the dark corner of his depressed perspective, Sasuke and Sakura made their appearance to bring him back to light and to help him with his heavy burden. As it always happened in the blond's life, when everything looked like nothing could help him, his two best friends entered in the scene to hold him and to get him out of his distressing situation.

Between the two, Sakura was who had lived the falling in love of Hinata for Krupal. As him, she understood rather little the methods that Randhawa had used with her to conquer her soul, but this did not stop her to firmly believed that Hinata's weakness towards the man was a consequence of the relation that the Uzumaki had had with his ex-girlfriend, Vanessa. Although Hinata had tried to look strong in front of her, Sakura had seen from the first moment that the extinct romance of the blond had hurt her deeply. She did not have doubts that Randhawa, a man older than her and with much more experience in life, had realized this fragility to promise the young woman his protection and friendship, enchanting her, and attracting Hinata to him slowly but steady.

Naruto thought that this hypothesis was quite feasible, but it not helped him to feel less miserable and guilty. To know the way through which Krupal had gotten closer to Hinata made him felt pretty sad, not because he could not fight against the man, but because he was the culprit that the Hyuga had fallen so easily in the professor's tricks.

"But it did not mean that you are the culprit of what have happened, Naruto!" Sakura quickly said, guessing his secret thought. "It would have happened with your intervention or without it. Hinata has always been a person of shy behavior and low self-esteem. With the correct push she would have fallen in anyone's trap. You only have to remember that boyfriend she had, that Patrick! Whatever that man has done to Hinata you can reverse it, I am sure of that, and for the only reason that she loves you in the same way you love her! You must not waver, Naruto, not now. Just think of everything she has suffered because of you. Can not you endure a little of pain, for her? I am positive that everything is going to get alright after all this happen. We are going to help you to recover her."

It was clear as water to him that Sakura was trying to redeem her behavior with him, when she had reproached him for not having the courage to confess to Hinata what he felt for her.

On the other hand, the Uzumaki knew she was right, especially in the part of the torture Hinata had had to endure in silence for his fault. If the Hyuga had underwent so much pain for him, why Naruto could not do the same? More than an obligation with her, Hinata deserved that he held in his back all the troubles he could have for her.

"But, seeing what has happened so far", Sakura continued, "anything you have in mind to win Hinata's heart and trust, you must do it soon. The influence Randhawa has on her is stronger in college, where he can be near her, but since we are now on vacation… Do not worry", the pink-haired woman added as if she was reading Naruto's mind, which was ready to remind her about the frequent encounters between professor and student because of the mountain of homework Hinata had received for her winter holiday. "The classes have finished already, and I saw with my two eyes when Hinata wished to Randhawa a Happy Christmas. So you can count she is going to be alone, afar of the malign influence of that man. And besides there is a point in your favor, something I believe you do not know. The last time Randhawa was away of her, in that occasion he had been arrested under the suspicion (that I am sure it was certain) of being the red-eyed monster, Hinata behaved very weird, as if his absent upset her profoundly…"

And Sakura let him know the details of those fateful days for the Hyuga, and how, during Randhawa's absent, her behavior had got even more taciturn, even having the aspect of a drug addict who was being affected by the lack of her drug. Naruto could not less but be impressed for such revelation, especially because it was difficult for him to imagine Hinata in a similar attitude.

But, on the other hand, even though such idea caused him repulsion, which this behavior could have the possibility to repeat itself could help immensely to his objectives. Randhawa had taken advantage of Hinata's weakness to make her fell in his trap. The Uzumaki, although it sounded grotesque to him, could appeal to the same resource if during the vacation Hinata showed the same discouragement, and to get help by that behavior to demonstrate to her that he was going _truly_ to be with her.

It seemed like Sakura was thinking the same that him, because she concluded:

"… and I believe you can use this to help you. I know it sounds horrible, but I am pretty sure that Hinata is going to show the same melancholy of before, and if you are there for her, to hold her in her darkest moment, it would signify a great advantage for what you want to obtain."

"Yes, it could help", Naruto said. "The only problem is that maybe I am not going to be here all the vacation… Jiraiya likes to spend to winter in the tropic, and we, mom and I, generally follow him… And Hinata told me that her father is planning to travel to Japan for Christmas, with his family… Maybe I do not have as many days as I need to put all this into motion…"

And the true was that what he lamented the most of it was the little time he had to make his goal a reality. He was also of Sakura's opinion: if any time was more auspicious to get closer to Hinata it was that, during the winter holiday. Outside the university, the young woman was far away of Randhawa's presence and influence. Those three weeks of vacation were crucial. But how he could take advantage of that glorious opportunity if Fate seemed to being stubborn in separate him from Hinata?

"Well, maybe I have a solution for it…" Sasuke murmured.

Both Naruto and Sakura directed greedily their eyes over the dark-haired, seeing him with expectation.

"I am not going to tell anything!" the Uchiha warned, seeing his friend and girlfriend. "I promised to my mother that I would keep the secret. But believe me, Naruto, it is what you are waiting for…"

Naruto could not hold his amazement, and he had to use his willpower to not jump over his friend and to demand to him an explanation to the enigma he had left unanswered. But a glance from Sasuke made him to know that the Uchiha was expecting for the Uzumaki to have faith in him, and the blond, as well for the confidence he had in him and for the long friendship he had with the man, accepted his conditions.

And it did not take long for him to find out that his waiting and patience had been worthy.

If the Uzumaki loved something more than Hinata it was definitely his family.

His family was small, composed by his godfather and his mother.

His godfather, a man named Jiraiya, had raised him since his father had died. He was a well-known writer of novels for the taste of men, which were sold as hot bread in the streets. Although Naruto loved him very much, he could not help but felt ashamed by his godfather's source of wealth, especially when Jiraiya seemed quite glad with that pervert side of his personality. For this reason sometimes Naruto used to call him "pervy old man".

The other member of his family was his mother, a beautiful woman named Kushina, who the blond loved more than the life itself.

It was with her with whom he encountered that morning, when he went to the dining room to have breakfast. As soon as he sat down at the table, his mother extended towards him a white envelope, which was opened, with a grin plastered on her face.

"What is this?" the blond asked meanwhile he took the letter.

"A little surprise for you", his mother answered.

Astonished, he took out the letter from the envelope, he displayed it before his eyes and immediately he felt a lack of air. He must reread the missive to make it sure for himself that he was not dreaming or misunderstanding what he had read in the sheet.

"Dear Kushina", the letter said.

"I hope you are having a wonderful winter holiday. I am writing to you because recently I heard the good news that this year you and your family are going to stay here, in the country, for Christmas, so I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to invite you and your family to my famous Christmas party. Please, tell me that you are going to accept my invitation! In the case you consider to accede to my offer, I thought it would be appropriate for you to spend these weeks in the Uchiha mansion, where I have disposed already everything for your stay. Once more I beg you to accept to come to my house, for our long friendship.

It will serve that you know that I have invited our relatives, the Hyuga, and Hiashi, with his two daughters, Hinata and Hanabi, and possibly his nephew, has accepted to be here for this Christmas season.

Please, if you want to spend this Christmas with us, send me a letter as quick as possible. As soon as I have your answer I will disposed of one of my chauffeurs to drive you here.

Sincerely yours,

Mikoto Uchiha."

Naruto blinked several times, extremely surprised by the content of the letter. Could it be really possible? Was it plausible to believe – more than that, to accept! – that he was going to spend the Christmas with Hinata?

"And what are you going to do?" he murmured with the throat dried.

"What I am going to do?" his mother asked.

"Are you are going to accept the invitation?"

"Only if you want."

"Only if I want?" Naruto said, astonished. "Mom, I do not believe aunt Mikoto has invited me, _but you._ If anyone had to accept this invitation, it is you."

His mother and Sasuke's mother had been friends for so long that both his friend as he referred to the other's mothers as their aunts.

Once more, the grin that had been in his mother's face when she had given him the letter showed once more.

"Certainly", she answered. "But it is not me who is putting as many things to the fire in accepting to go to this reunion _as you_ , my cherish son. You will not only have the opportunity to spend more time with Sasuke, but also with this girl, this Hinata…"

As soon as those words escaped from his mother's mouth and found their way into his ears, Naruto opened his eyes at it full capacity.

"Since when…?" he suddenly asked, with the voice of an automaton.

"Since when what, darling?"

"Since when do you know that I am in love with Hinata, mother?!" Naruto cried out, frowning in a mixture of anger and surprise.

Kushina let slip a laugh of sufficiency before saying:

"Have more faith in your mother, darling! What do you think? Do you still believe that after twenty-two years of knowing you, of seeing you grew up, I can not read you as an open book? You were not exactly discreet those days that girl was here. Give me some credit."

In a part of his mind Naruto had always believe that his mother was a kind of evil genius, but never until then such impression had been as strong as in that moment. He could not stop asking himself up to what point the generous offer of the Uchiha matriarch was not an idea rather inspired by his mother.

"So, what do you answer?" his mother interrupted the train of his thoughts.

"Answer what?" a third voice added to the conversation.

His godfather had appeared in scene, seeing Naruto and Kushina alternatively, trying to catch the topic about the conversation of mother and son. Kushina hurriedly told him what the two were discussing, having success in making the blond Uzumaki to blush.

"I am trying to know his decision about spending this Christmas in the Uchiha household, with his girlfriend."

"She is not my girlfriend!" Naruto exclaimed, clenching his fists.

"She is not your girlfriend _yet_ " his mother answered with peremptory voice.

Even though Naruto loved very deeply his mother, nonetheless when it came to their natures he had had many clashes with her. Both of them had strong personalities (definitely a characteristic of the Uzumaki's blood), and there had been plenty occasions throughout his life where he had had terrible fights with his mother (of which the Uzumaki was always the loser because he was the first one to apologize).

Maybe the cause of the majority of their discussions was because she still saw him as a little boy even though he was a man of twenty-two years. On one hand, he could not blame her for that behavior, because he knew that his father's death had affected her deeply, and he was the only family she had. But on the other hand he could not tolerate her overprotective ways. She used to take advantage of it to ashamed him (of course, without intending to hurt him), entangling him in embarrassing situations with what he prized the most. Naruto did not want that she, no matter how good were her intentions, would ruin the delicate position he had with Hinata.

It was because this reason that, after accepting the invitation to spend that Christmas with the Uchiha and the Hyuga, earning the cheers of Kushina and Jiraiya, he took his mother's arm and dragged her to a far corner of the room, where his godfather could not hear him; and he said to her seriously:

"Mom, please, I beg you, do not try to intervene in this. Hinata is very important to me, and my situation with her is not very sure. So please…"

"Why?" the woman interrupted. "I am sure she loves you in the same way you love her!"

"It is more complicated of what you think…"

At first he refused to tell his mother what was happening, afraid of the decisions that she could make "to help him". But after some seconds of indecision he decided to acquaint the woman about his situation. And he did not only intent to speak about his circumstances with Kushina, but also with Jiraiya. He was very supportive to the mission of his mother to make a hell, without bad intentions, of his life. His two listeners listened to him with opened mouths and stunned looks. When he spoke about the part played by Krupal Randhawa in all that tragedy, his mother made an expression of anger.

"That professor of second class is trying to separate my son of my future daughter-in-law!" the woman said with offended tone.

At the mention of Hinata as her future daughter-in-law, Naruto hit his forehead. Really?

"If you want to conquer that girl your only option is to fight for her", Jiraiya said smiling, who looked like that the perspective to see his godson fighting for his loved amused him deeply.

"That is what I am doing", Naruto answered with serious tone, frowning.

"And I am pretty sure that you are going to win her heart!" his mother asseverated. "But to reach the heart of a girl it is essential to appeal to a special detail, something that she really likes, a gift that when she will see it she will remember you."

"Hinata is not precisely that kind of woman, mom" the blond informed.

"But it does not mean you are going to leave her without her Christmas gift, are you?" Kushina said, looking at him accusingly.

Naruto gasped. His mother was right! Not a single time during those days he had thought of what he would give to Hinata for Christmas, more concentrated in finding an effective way to conquer her. But now that he was going to spend the holiday with her he could not go empty handed. Be there without a gift for Hinata it was like giving a mortal stab to his desire to have her in his life. And it could not be an ordinary present. It had to be a gift, as his mother had said, that would leave Hinata speechless! It had to be a unique present, a very special one, something that a person who loved her as he did, with all its soul, that understood her as nobody knew her, could give to her!

"I realize you have comprehended", Kushina said, smiling. "While you think of something to give to Hinata, I am going to answer to Mikoto. She is going to be so happy when she will know we are going to be there!"

During the following hours Naruto only concentrated his mind in the perfect gift for Hinata. December did not only marked the Christmas holiday, but also the month in which Hinata was going to be a year older, reason why the Uzumaki ought to think of two gifts to give to her. Meanwhile he cared of his greenhouse, while he made his luggage and during the meals what only Naruto thought was about the presents he must give to Hinata.

The coexistence of the last days, for his luck, had helped him to knowing her more and to remember those details of her personality that he had forgotten with the pass of time.

He had learned that what Hinata liked the most was passing her hours knitting. In many opportunities through those days he had found her in one of those sewing works; and Naruto himself recognized that he had been a beneficiary of her labor.

So when he found, in the next day of accepting the invitation of Mikoto Uchiha, and while he was surveying the different stores of the city to find a gift for Hinata, in the showcase of one store a wicker basket, filled to overflow with different skeins, of the most extravagate colors Naruto had seen in his life, he immediately thought it would be the perfect gift for Hinata. It was not only an object she was going to appreciate, for her liking to sewing, but it was also a gift unique in its kind, something that anyone but him could give to her. The Uzumaki bought it without thinking twice.

Besides he accompanied that gift with a pair of books versed in sewing patterns, which cost him a small fortune just for being of old editions. But to Naruto that detail did not matter.

For the gift for her birthday Naruto received help from Sakura. His friend had been invited as well to the reunion the Uchiha were organizing (mostly because she was Sasuke's girlfriend). When he asked her for her aid she had accepted immediately.

Sakura, who assured him that even though Hinata was not the kind of person who dazzled by the exquisite details, she was going to appreciate very much if he give to her a sumptuous gift for her birthday, dragged him to a well-known jewelry shop. There, among a lot of selections, they found a gorgeous and delicate silver necklace, bordered by little diamonds, and from which hanged an intertwined of diamonds with a rare lilac tone, which took between them the form of a flower. Naruto, imagining such beautiful necklace over Hinata's white neck, could not help but blush.

Two days later a luxurious limousine picked up the Uzumaki and Jiraiya to drive them to the Uchiha household.

Naruto had been many times in the Uchiha's house, and he could say without fear of being wrong that he knew the residence where his friend lived as it was his. But the building where the chauffeur drove them was not at all the one the Uzumaki knew so well.

While the automobile slowed down as it drove through a pathway of grey stones, Naruto saw an imposing mansion, all white, which elevated to the whitish sky of the winter with an impressive majestic. Everything that reached his sight oozed the magnificent of wealth that only the most privileged could attain; and although for Naruto the matter of money was not a problem, since his godfather had kneaded an important fortune throughout his career as writer, letting his mother and he to live comfortably, he could not help but felt as an insignificant insect in front of such richness.

Inside the mansion was even more beautiful. Mikoto Uchiha herself received them when they stepped in the entryway. After the woman hugged him, he left her side to go to find Sasuke.

Finding his friend took him a while. The house was big and it was easy to lose in it. But after some minutes he saw the dark hair of his best friend, who was in what he supposed was his room. Beside him was Sakura, who told him that her fathers had left her there the day before previously flying to some country in the Caribbean.

Sasuke, with his accustomed sarcasm, said to him:

"Do you realize now that I was right when I told you that I had a solution for your problem?"

Naruto laughed.

"Truly, I was not expecting this! By the way, is Hinata here?"

"Not yet", Sakura answered, denying with her head. "But I am sure she is going to be here soon!"

The Uzumaki nodded, with a confident look.

Sasuke invited he to join him in playing video games, and during the rest of the day Naruto and Sasuke played, with Sakura cheering up for her boyfriend. When the evening took place over the sky, the three of them were called to dinner.

The dining table, of an exquisite manufacture, was almost empty, but Mikoto quickly asserted that as soon the guests she was expecting arrived it would look in its entire splendor.

The Uzumaki ate as many as he wanted, delighting with the delicious food, and after eating he returned to Sasuke's bedroom to continue playing. His mother stayed in the dining room talking with her friend, and Jiraiya did the same with the patriarch of the Uchiha family, Fugaku, in a little study which belonged to the man. Some hours later, almost at midnight, Naruto went to the room Mikoto had prepared for him, and he jump in the bed, falling sleep immediately.

The next day mistress Uchiha asked the young ones of the group – Sasuke, Sakura and him – to help her with the decorations of the house. Even though Christmas was around the corner very few spaces in the house were decorated with the Christmas colors, and even the Christmas tree was not even adorn. Maybe the lack of ornaments it was due to Mikoto's desire to maintain her house all by herself as far as she could afford it (the small number of servants in the mansion was a demonstration of it); but anyway Naruto did what she asked, bringing life over the Christmas tree, and hanging the decorations where she specified to put them.

In the afternoon arrived to the mansion the older son of the Uchiha marriage, Sasuke's brother, a man named Itachi. He was accompanied by his wife, a beautiful woman named Izumi, and the only daughter of the couple, a little girl named Michiko Uchiha. With them came also the baby's nanny.

"He is already here", Sasuke said to his ear with a grief expression.

Naruto could not help but laugh at his friend predicament. He had been in Sasuke's life for so long as to have the chance to coexist with his older brother, and he knew that, even though his friend cherished his brother, he could not tolerate him. Itachi was, before his eyes, a perfect version of him, and because of this he always had been very jealous of the man, and Itachi had not done anything to help this discordance. It was not that they did not love each other, on the contrary, but Itachi and Sasuke preferred to live as cats and dogs before showing their true feelings for the other.

However, he was happy for Itachi's arrival, and not because Itachi himself, but for his little daughter. Because of the almost brotherly relation he had with the Uchiha family, Naruto treated the little girl as she was his niece. And she was a niece that the blond adored with all his heart. The girl, with the haughty expression of the Uchiha on her chubby little face of baby, could not awake more tenderness for her in the Uzumaki. But, as the story of a tragic love, his feelings for her were not corresponded by the little girl.

"Michi!" he exclaimed when he saw her (it was with this nickname as he called her), hugging her after approaching to her. "You look so beautiful!"

He hugged the baby against his chest, but the little girl, of a clever intelligent, escaped of his arms without Naruto realized her leakage and walked as quickly as her legs of five years old girl could allow her, until she reached Sasuke. She held to his leg, dragging his attention towards her, and obtaining that an unhappy look appeared in the face of her stoic uncle.

Michiko extended her arms towards him, as if she was asking him to carry her up, and finally, giving up, Sasuke picked her up in his arms.

"How annoying girl you are", he said.

If the love Naruto felt for Michiko was not reciprocated, the one the little Uchiha had for her uncle received the same treat. Even though he was sure his friend adored his niece, the cold man did not show it. But Michiko did not care about it because the love she felt for her uncle did not know boundaries.

After the greetings, the servants carried the luggage of the newcomers to their respective rooms, and later, at Mikoto's order, they brought a tray with tea, coffee, cups to pour the beverages and pastries of different kinds. Naruto, the same as the others, sat at the coffee table, where the service was served; and after eating, he enjoyed Michiko's company, with whom he played and helped her with her drawings.

But meanwhile he passed the time with the younger member of the Uchiha family he could not stop thinking of Hinata. In few days Christmas would come and the Hyuga had not arrived. He could not help but asked himself if the family was going to assist to that reunion, and if that cold and despicable man that was Hiashi Hyuga had not change his opinion about coming to the mansion of their relatives, dragging with him his two daughters to the country of the rising sun, while he was waiting with desperation the possibility to see again the beautiful face of Hinata. He was afraid that the letter Mikoto Uchiha had sent to his family contained nothing but lies. Were they really coming?

The bad taste in his mouth that had left that perspective made his night difficult, and when he woke up he felt tired and haggard. He always had characterized for being a positive person, but the havoc which produced in him the idea that Hinata was not going to be in the Uchiha mansion, plus the tiredness that had left in his soul his unsuccessful efforts to show how much he loved her, bitter him deeply. Was it that he had to conform to the whim of Fate, that everything he had done until now to conquer Hinata's heart was going to mean nothing after all? Had he really to accept with his arms crossed that in this battle he could not do anything, and that Krupal was the only and absolute winner?

Aware that his depressed spirit was going to attract the attention of the people who loved him, whom would ask to themselves what was going on with him, Naruto tried to hide his state of mind the best he could. But many of the gathered there knew him quite well for his like, as Sakura, who squeezed his shoulder in a friendly way at the same time she smiled to him, or his mother, who put aside momentarily the work in which she was helping her friend to give him some comforting words while she brushed with her fingers his blond hair in the only way a mother worried by her son could do. Even little Michiko was more kind with him, letting him to seat her down on his knees after she asked him to read a book for her, or begging his help in the confection of snowmen.

Most of the morning the Uzumaki spent his time with the little girl until lunch was served. After finished the meal, Sasuke asked him to accompany him to the post office, where he must deliver the invitations his mother had made for the guests of the Christmas party. Naruto did so.

But albeit the distractions, Naruto could not take out his mind the sad perspective that the Hyuga, especially Hinata, would not arrive in time for Christmas. The more he thought about that, the worst his depression increased; and even though he tried to concentrate in another thing, to see the nearby future under a more favorable light, his mind impeded him any shortcut to escape of that gloomy idea. It was like he was drinking a venom, and even though he knew it was killing him, he could not stop continuing swallowing it.

When he returned to the Uchiha mansion he was downcast and felt unhappy. Sasuke entered first, leaving the door opened for him. But Naruto stayed for some minutes outside the building, letting the snow to fall over him as if it could help his pain. But finally, without wanting to attract the attention of anyone over him, he stepped inside the house. And as soon as he put his feet inside the entryway, he became paralyzed.

The principal door of the mansion consisted in two sheets, of the same white of the building. They opened to a hallway, which was divided to the left to the dining room, the kitchen, an exquisite spiral staircase – which went to the bedrooms of the second floor, as well as to other platforms -, and a large library; and to the right to a giant living room, that was separated of the hallway for a wooden arch, which gave access to that big room.

Naruto had took off the heavy snow boots, the gloves and his scarf, and was putting them in an area of the hallway especially designed for them when a familiar fragrance reached his nose. Intoxicated, delighted by it, his steps dragged him to the right side of the hall, where was the living room. The wooden arch, which gave access to the place, made the work of a curtain, revealing to his eyes at every step what was there. Suddenly a long dark hair with bluish reflections appeared to his sight, and his heart stopped.

Hinata was there, at the reach of his hand! Naruto felt as the time stopped and that the only thing that mattered were the young woman and him.

Without realizing it, he came closer to the young woman until he was seeing her back, and slowly, as if he was afraid that what was before him was only an illusion, he reached out his arm until his fingers brushed her shirt. Then, after confirming with happiness that what he had in front of him was not a trick of his imagination, he hugged Hinata, passing his arms around her abdomen, getting closer to her until his torso touched her back.

"Hi", he said to her ear.

At the beginning he had not realized how audacious had been his action, but when, attracted by his voice, she turned her head to see him, making that their faces were a span away, Naruto could not stop his surprised for what he had done.

Since he had discovered her renewed feelings for the Hyuga he had been very attached to her, but never to the point of being that near. Immediately he blushed, and he had to make a big effort to not see Hinata's mouth. They were so close that if he wanted he only had to lower his face to touch her lips. Hinata blushed too; and Naruto could swear that, as he, she was retaining the air in her lungs, full of expectation of what was going to happen next.

"Naruto", the young woman murmured.

And as soon as his name escaped of her lips, the magic moment broke up. She had not raised her voice, but her soft murmur had been enough for the others gathered there. Every one of them saw the young ones intensely, making Naruto felt so ashamed that he could not think clearly. When they realized the position in which the two were, Sakura, his mother, Mikoto and Jiraiya made the same mocking expression. But the one who did not see it as happy as the others was Hiashi Hyuga; and when he perceived the angry look of Hinata's father over him, Naruto felt like the arms, which were around Hinata's waist, were burning. He retired them with a quick move of the young woman's body, smiling awkwardly.

Sasuke came closer to him, and said, breaking the awkward moment:

"I had believed you have become a Popsicle. You took your time to enter", he added with cold voice, as a father who reprimanded his impish son.

"I am sorry", Naruto answered, shaking off his head the snow that was still in there. "When did you arrive?" he asked Hinata.

"Not a long time ago, like thirty minutes ago."

"Just in time for Christmas!" Mikoto exclaimed with happiness. "Now that we are all together, I am pretty sure this Christmas is going to be the best that we all have had until now."

Besides Hiashi and Hinata, other members of the Hyuga clan were in there. Hinata's cousin, Neji, a tall man, with peaceful expression and long brown hair, came closer to him to shake his hand. Although Neji was older than him by two years, they had been friends since long time. He also saluted Hinata's younger sister, Hanabi, who confessed with a mischievous expression, that Naruto did not know how to interpreted, that the Christmas was going to be interesting that year.

As Mikoto had predicted, the presence of the entire guests in that small reunion had raised a spirit of happiness over all them. Sasuke looked less irritated with his older brother, mistress Uchiha turned less her nose at the closeness of her younger son with Sakura, and Hiashi Hyuga himself was talking kindly with his mother and his godfather, persons that he normally would not have bothered to look at them (Kushina and Jiraiya felt the same antipathy for him).

The dinner was eaten under an aura of joviality and happiness. Naruto laughed heartedly of his worries of the morning, and enjoyed the delicious food as never before. When he finished, feeling happy, he offered Hinata to give her a tour through the house, which he was beginning to know better every day he was in it. The Hyuga accepted.

He conducted her through all the floors and through all the rooms, talking about every space of the house as if it belonged to him. Meanwhile they walked, he told her about all the experiences he had lived until then in that place, placing more emphasis in the most humorous ones, and feeling happy when he heard Hinata's laughs resounding in his ears.

When the tour finished, the Hyuga confessed her desire to visit once more the library, place which Naruto had shown her briefly for his uninterested in it. The Uzumaki accepted and accompanied her.

The library of the mansion was an immense room decorated through ceiling to floor with wood panels. Everything that was under his sight shone as if it had its own life. The majority of the walls had wooden plaques, in where different books, of all shapes, colors and topics, were stacked. In the floor, armchairs, framed with red, green and black fabrics, were waiting for its visitors, and nearby them a great number of floor lamps were arranged. Also, a little away of those objects, there was a piano, in that moment covered with a white sheet.

Hinata, as if she was intrigued by it, walked closer to the piano and took off the cloth of it. The piano was one of those old models, completely black, that still shone under the lights of the ceiling lamps in spite of its years. The Hyuga sat at it and slid her delicate white fingers over it, taking a few notes of the keys. Suddenly she played a melody, and Naruto showed his surprised.

"I did not know you could play the piano", he said.

"There are many things you do not know about me, Naruto Uzumaki", Hinata answered, smiling.

"Do you really think so?" the blond said with defiant voice.

They challenged each other with their eyes, but after some minutes both laughed.

"Do you want me to teach you?"

"Would you do it?"

"Of course" Hinata said with a kindly expression.

"In that case, I would love it", the Uzumaki said, smiling.

"Sit by my side."

Naruto did so. Hinata moved his hands near hers, and when he felt the touch of the hands of the young woman over his he could not help but blushed. And while one side of his brain was concentrated in the piano lesson Hinata was teaching him, the other side of his mind was calculating the possibility to confess right now, in that very moment, his feelings for her. Was it that he had not fought the enough to win her heart above the control Randhawa was trying to have in her? He really did not know it, but he was conscious his soul was throbbing with the desire to say the words which danced in his tongue, to confess to her that he loved her.

But at the same time that thought became stronger, he felt as his mouth dried and his pupils were expanding of the expectation. He had never been a shy person. On the contrary, it was a habit in him to act impulsively. But in that moment he was feeling as if every pore of his skin was being captive by the nervousness. His throat was closing and his hands were shaking. He knew quite well that of the answer of Hinata would depend what would happen with his life in the future, as a lover who knows that in the affirmative answer of his feelings it is the next puff of oxygen that he will breathe. And even so he was positive that the moment was auspicious, that if he did not move quickly he was going to lose her, maybe forever…

His mouth opened, and from his throat escaped hoarse words:

"Hinata… I… I have to say to you something important…"

The Hyuga's hands stopped its movement over the piano, and the young woman elevated her eyes towards him. Once again Naruto realized their uncomfortable closeness, and his heart beat faster. Hinata ought to see the same, because she blushed as soon as their eyes met.

"I…" the Uzumaki murmured.

"Hey, pair of lovebirds", a voice interrupted suddenly, that Naruto recognized as Sasuke's. "I am quite sorry for interrupt you, but mother said we should put our gifts in the Christmas tree before the lights of the mansion will turn off, what will happen more or less in twenty minutes. Then she asked us to go to sleep. She said tomorrow is going to be a busy day."

Naruto directed an annoyed look over his friend, but Sasuke acted like he had not anything to do with what had happened.

Hinata was the first to walk away from the piano. She said to him when she was on foot:

"What was that important thing you must tell me?"

"It can wait!" the blond asseverated, smiling. "I will tell you at another time."

The true was that now that the magic moment of before was broke, the shyness that attacked him in the other occasions returned over him with all its force. In another opportunity, in one more propitious, and without the possibility of being interrupted, he was going to tell her the true of his feelings.

Hinata smiled to him, and said that she would go ahead, so fell over Naruto the responsibility of to cover again the piano with the white sheet that had been over it. When he finished doing that, he turned around to face the door, but a suddenly shine in the darkness of the library, where the lights did not illuminate, made him to stop.

Normally he would have continued to the door. He was not a gossip person, and since all the year he had been acquaintance to the powerful family he always had respected the secrets of the Uchiha. But in that opportunity, and without him knowing why, the curiosity won over him.

Over that dark zone hanged a chandelier. Naruto moved the switch to turn it on, and as soon as the light appeared he saw a giant door, which began in the ceiling and ended at the floor, with a stained glass decoration. Each one of the glasses, painted with different colors, offered a marvelous spectacle to the eyes.

A golden doorknob shown before his eyes; and even though Naruto believed it would not move, that the door was closed and he could not enter in the room it was guarding, the door slid on its hinges without difficulty.

A great expectation took possession of him while he saw the wide room before his eyes. It was completely dark, but a switch in the wall next to him turned on all the lamps, as he could see when he moved it. When the light spread through every corner, he was speechless.

The place was an enormous room, over which in every of its walls hanged portraits of different sizes and with varied reproductions. In them diverse members of the Uchiha family were drew (he recognized in some of them Sasuke, his brother and parents). But the most important of all them was one in the far side of the room, and he could calculate it by how big it was.

Naruto, invaded by the curiosity, walked to it, but every step closer he took the more frightened he felt. In it was represented a tall man, with white skin and long black hair, which reached his waist. His black eyes pierced his soul, which made Naruto to shiver. They were the eyes of a man who had come to the world to destroy it.

The same man appeared in another painting, accompanied. Next to him were a man of cold expression and brown hair, and two young women, all the three showing various physiological characteristics of the man, in a clear demonstration that they were related with him. But a fourth figure, who appeared at the man's side, and who had one of his hands over the shoulder of the person, did not have anything in common with the adult. It was a little boy, at least of six years old, brown-skinned, orange hair and two pair of strange red eyes. He looked so much like Krupal… Naruto frowned… Could it be possible?

"What are you doing here, Naruto?" a voice suddenly asked.

Naruto jumped on himself when he heard his name. He was so immersed in the figures in the painting that he could not help but be afraid by the sudden call. When he turned around he saw the stoic face of Sasuke.

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke repeated, walking closer to him.

"Is it that it was prohibited to be here?" Naruto spited, trying to control the fast beating of his heart.

"On the contrary", his friend answered after sighing. "The door of this room it is only closed because mother wants to protect the old paintings in here. Besides, generally nobody comes here, at least if father desires to show them to one of his friends. Because of this is why I am surprised that you are here."

The Uzumaki confessed, laughing, that the only reason that had dragged him into the room had been his curiosity, answer that was follow by a hit in the neck by the other.

"Hey!" Naruto claimed.

"We better get out of here", the Uchiha said, without bothering by his demand. "You still have to put your gifts under the Christmas tree."

Understanding that his time in the room had come to an end, Naruto quickly asked:

"Can I ask who the people in those paintings are?" he said, pointing at the representations in which appeared the man with black hair.

"The one of the big painting is my great-great-grandfather, Madara Uchiha. He bought this house and left it to us, or more appropriate to my grandfather, which is the man of brown hair. The two young women are my great-great-grandfather's daughters, but I do not remember their names right now."

"And that boy with orange hair, who is him?"

Sasuke walked closer to the paint, and after some minutes he said:

"I believe he is the adopted son of my great-great-grandfather, but I do not remember his name either… and I am positive he is dead", he added when Naruto saw him with special interest. "Are your doubts satisfied? Can we go now?"

That night Naruto did not sleep well. He had a terrible nightmare in which a being of red eyes jumped over him, or more properly over a man who looked like him, with long blond hair, with a knife in his hand, while his mother screamed with her eyes full of tears. When he woke up, in the middle of the night, he was covered in sweat and his heart beat wildly.

He rose of the bed and walked to the bathroom to wash off his face the traces of the nightmare, but the cold water of the sink did not help him to calm down. So he returned to the room and opened one of the windows, letting the cold winter air to enter in the place and to touch his face.

The cold winter air calmed him down. Naruto leant his strong arms over the window ledge and inclined forward his body until he could see the ground covered with snow of the garden. Suddenly, a movement attracted his attention and his eyes opened with bewilderment when he realized that what had drawn his sight had been Hinata.

Their rooms, as well as Sasuke's and Sakura's bedrooms, were located in the same floor; and at least one window of the four gave a perfect view of the others, so if any of them looked out he could see him or her if he was doing the same. For this reason he saw Hinata as clearly as if she was near him, receiving too the cold air of the winter over her face.

The vision of the Hyuga made him frown. In spite of the distance he could clearly see the melancholic expression in the face of his loved; and Naruto felt the imperious necessity to save the distances and to be with her.

He closed the window, got out of the room and walked to the one that belonged to Hinata. He called to the door, first with delicate hits, but later with stronger blows, but the young woman did not answer. Then, guided by an impulse, he put a hand in the doorknob and turned it. The door opened without effort.

Hinata was still bent over the window, and Naruto, afraid that the cold weather had affected her, walked closer to her and put his hand over her shoulder. Immediately, the Hyuga jumped on herself and turned around brusquely, blushing when she saw Naruto standing next to her. The blond blushed too, and with promptness he moved away the hand he had on Hinata.

"What are you doing here?" the Hyuga asked.

"I called to your door, but since you did not respond… I took the liberty to enter without your permission", the Uzumaki excused himself. "If you want I can leave…"

"Please, do not do that!" she exclaimed, holding his arm abruptly when he turned to leave.

Naruto could not be less than surprised. He expected of him that kind of sudden actions, but not of Hinata. She was a calm person, who did not act by the impulsivity of the moment, as him; and that unexpected behavior amazed him, but also made him happy.

He noticed she was shivering, so he quickly closed the opened window. Then he grabbed a blanket that was over a chair and put it around Hinata's shoulders. After it, he sat down beside her.

Naruto grabbed one of her hands and pleaded:

"Tell me what is happening."

Hinata saw him with a sad look that left him speechless, and he squeezed her hand.

"Hinata, please…"

"Have you ever felt that your whole world is based on a single decision, and that when you take it all you know could collapse?" Hinata asked him suddenly.

Naruto saw her surprised. What was she talking about?

"I am afraid I do not know how to answer that question…" he murmured.

"But you have to make a decision. You can not delay it. What you will do in a case like it, Naruto?" the Hyuga asked with pleading eyes.

"I think I would follow what my heart dictates."

"Even though your decision could affect the people you love the most?"

He smiled to her.

"If that people truly love me they would respect my decision and would know, after some time, that what I have chosen has been the best for me. But why are you asking me this, Hinata?"

The young woman furrowed her brows, hugging herself.

"I am afraid I will have to make that decision", she finally answered.

Naruto saw her astonished; but when he asked her what she was trying to say with it, she begged him to respect her silence. He sighed, but did so.

"You have told me all these past days that I can count on you. I want to know if the offer is still available", Hinata suddenly said with shyness.

Surprised by what she was saying, Naruto approached her and held her against his chest.

"My beloved Hinata, why are you asking this? Of course you can count on me! For everything. No matter what, I will be with you."

Hinata dedicated him a sad smile and then she sank her face in his shirt. Naruto held her, rocking her while he brushed her hair with his fingers, feeling the soft texture of it in his skin.

They stayed like that until the white sun of the winter appeared in the sky. When he realized how much time he had been in there, he surprised. Hinata had fallen asleep in his arms. Naruto put her with delicately over the bed and covered her before leaving the room. If someone discovered him in Hinata's room he was pretty sure that things would heated, and not in a good way. He returned to his room to have some sleep, but the woman's words did not let him to do so.

That day was Christmas Eve. For a second time of his stay in the mansion, Naruto woke up feeling tired, but he did the best to not show up how exhausted he was; especially because that night was going to be celebrated the party organized by Mikoto Uchiha.

All the domestics of the house were working throughout the mansion, but even so all of the guests helped in which they knew the best. Naruto, who was good with plants, helped by fixing up some natural scrubs inside the house and arranging some flower arrangements, which were going to be put on the tables.

When it was six o'clock in the afternoon Mikoto urged he, as his friends, to go to his room to change clothes. In the honor of the moment, his mother had bought for him a suit for the party. Since Naruto used to look reluctantly the idea of wearing that kind of vestment, he put it on with a contempt expression.

While he was trying to find the logic of how to tie the bow tie, someone knocked to his door and after some seconds the face of his mother appeared in the room.

Kushina smiled to him when she looked at him.

"How elegant are you!" she exclaimed.

"Mom!" Naruto yelled, embarrassed.

The woman laughed.

"Let me help you with that", she said.

His mother came closer to him and tied the bow tie, making a perfect knot. She then walked to the bathroom, from where she returned with a wet comb, with which she fixed his hair until Naruto's golden locks were firmly combed back.

Naruto took a moment to see how the woman who had given him life looked. Kushina wore a red dress that covered her arms and ended in her ankles. Her long reddish hair was tied in a bun, giving her a refined and elegant aspect. His mother was definitely beautiful.

Kushina invited him to follow her to the living room, where the party was taking place. Sounds of voices were heard from there, indicating the presence of the guests.

At the same time he stepped out his room, Sasuke and Sakura were doing the same. His friend, as him, was wearing an elegant suit, while Sakura was really beautiful, dressing a long light blue dress, tied over one of her shoulders as at the roman style.

When he gathered in the living room with the others, Naruto could not be less astonished. During his stay in the mansion he had been many times in that part of the building, but he had never seen it as beautiful as it was in that moment.

Two enormous chandeliers bathed with their lights the room, with their crystals shining in a special and beautiful way. To his right a long table was displayed, in which a tall tower of champagne glasses were being filled by a servant, dressed in an elegant white suit; there were also in the table bottles of wine and other stronger drinks, with their respective glasses. At some distance from it a series of sofas were disposed for the guests, in where were seated mostly men, talking lively while smoking. In the other point of the room, over a platform, a music band was performing jazz, with couples dancing around them.

Naruto recognized between the guests the people with whom he had been living. In the area of the sofas, Fugaku, Jiraiya, Hiashi, Neji and Itachi were talking, only refraining from smoking the last two. Mikoto was with her daughter-in-law; and his mother walked closer to her. Michiko's nanny was with them, trying to hold the little girl, who was making the impossible to escape of her grip. Meanwhile Hanabi, grouped with some young people of her age, looked like she was discussing about something important. But for more than he searched he could not find a single trace of Hinata in the living room.

"And Hinata?" he asked Sakura.

"Oh! She said she needed a moment before coming down. I believed she was chatting with someone in her phone. Let's go to dance, Sasuke" she added, talking with her boyfriend. "At least one dance, please!"

The Uzumaki smiled with content sarcasm to Sasuke, mocking for his predicament. He tried his best to not laugh at the discomfort expression in the Uchiha's face, while he was dragged by Sakura to the dance floor.

Suddenly a sensation that the time had stopped took place in his chest. As if he was attracted by a magnet, he turned around at the same moment Hinata was making her appearance in the living room. When he saw her his face froze in an astonished expression, only his blue eyes shining with amazement. He could swear he had never seen Hinata before as beautiful as she was in that instant.

She was wearing a strapless green dress, that fitted to her bulging bust without revealing too much of it. In her neck a diamond necklace made her shine. Her long dark hair was tied in an elegant bun, framing her face, make-up with subtlety. Her dress, which ended at her ankles, let reveal a pair of heeled shoes of black color.

Naruto had never seen her so beautiful, and observing how gorgeous she was left him speechless. But his absorption did not stop him to notice the looks of other men over the young woman; and the blond felt like he was part of a pack of dogs, in which if he did not protect what he wanted, another dog was going to take it. His pride of lover made him to move quickly to where Hinata was, and as soon as he was near her he put his arms over her in a protective way, as if he was marking his territory. And the ruse worked out, because after it all his competitors averted their eyes of the Hyuga. Naruto smiled with a little tint of evilness while Hinata returned the hug.

"You look very beautiful", he said to her when they separated.

"And you are very handsome", Hinata asseverated, smiling.

Both of them blushed.

"Eh…" Naruto began to murmur. "Could… could I invite you to dance?"

"I would love to dance with you, Naruto. But… I did not know you knew how to dance!"

The Uzumaki made a mischievous smile.

"There are many things you do not know about me, Hinata Hyuga!"

She blushed, but then both laughed.

Naruto took her hand and walked with her to the dance floor.

The evening went by with overflowing joy. Naruto passed his time mostly with Hinata, but when she was not with him he walked beside Sasuke, who presented to him the rest of his family, the brothers and sisters of his mother and father, and their sons. He found out with happiness that Sasuke's cousins, even though their last name, were much more cheerful than the principal family, and soon he had made friendship with some of them. Besides, Sasuke presented to him some social partners of his father, as well as to some friends of the family.

He enjoyed the drinks and the food, which was served in the dining room around nine o'clock. After the dinner, the servants had put in the table of the drinks some trays with desserts, and the Uzumaki tried several of them, even bringing some to Hinata. When the party took its end his stomach was full of food and his head was spinning thanks to the alcohol.

The guests retired from the mansion at twelve o'clock in the morning, but the other members of the Uchiha family stayed in the house to celebrate Christmas with the principal one.

Hinata, Sakura, Mikoto, Izumi and little Michiko retired to rest. Later the remainder of the family went to their bedrooms. But not Naruto. He stayed in the living room with the most partying of Sasuke's cousins, drinking what remained in the bottles of alcohol and eating the rest of the pastries, but above all making so much noise that his mother (as well as the mothers of his companions), when was three o'clock in the morning, appeared with an angry expression in the place and dragged him by the ear to his room.

When he woke up the next day he had a terrible headache, and his stomach was burning as if he had eaten fire.

"Shit!" he murmured, putting a hand over his head.

"Careful with your language, young man!" suddenly a voice reprimanded him.

With his eyes aching by the lights that came from his window, he raised his head to see his mother looking at him, with her hands in her hips.

"So, did you enjoy the party, do not you?" his mother asked, frowning.

"I am sorry, mom… I should not have drink so much… Sorry."

Suddenly the woman laughed, surprising him.

Kushina hit him in the arm, which made him to draw a pain expression in his face (what the hell was going on?!). Then she hugged him, dragging his face over her chest.

"I am kidding!" she exclaimed. "I am not mad with you… or am I?... Well, on one hand I am very angry with you, young man. What the hell was happening in your mind when you decided to drink that much?"

"Am I young and I do not know how to take care of my life?" Naruto said with fear, afraid of his mother's reaction, mostly because he did not know how to justify his behavior of the night.

The woman snapped her tongue.

"That must be, I guess", she finally said. "Anyway, as you know, today is Christmas, and Mikoto, as kind as always, let you sleep… It is already one o'clock, if you are asking… As I was saying, she did not want to disturb your sleep, so she saved you for going to the living room to open your presents. They are here, if you are wondering about them", Kushina said, pointing to a corner of the room, where a mountain of gifts were stacked. "Besides it, I have a little Christmas surprise for you."

Naruto saw her confused. What was his mother talking about?

Kushina went to the bedroom's door and opened it.

"Come in, darling."

She moved aside to let pass anyone who was in the other side of the door. A figure passed in. It was Hinata.

Seeing Hinata there made Naruto to feel ashamed. It was not as he wished that she saw him in that state. He must be giving a terrible spectacle, with his face reflecting the ravages of the alcohol.

But when his mother said the next thing his shame transformed into surprise, and he could not help but thought about what had she did:

"So, Hinata, are you going to take care of my beautiful son?"

Naruto's face became totally red. What the hell Kushina had did? He knew his mother too well to know that she was cooking something, and that she had put her hands in his relation with Hinata. The Uzumaki controlled his impulses to jump over the woman and to demand to her an explanation of everything she had done until now about her plan to make Hinata her future daughter-in-law.

"I will leave the two of you alone. If you need anything, Hinata, just ask."

"Thank you, mistress Kushina."

"I will leave my son in your hands!" the woman exclaimed before walking out of the room.

Hinata smiled and closed the doors; later she did the same with the windows. Until then Naruto had not realized the plastic bag she had in her hand. He could not see clearly, but he supposed the forms of some bottles inside it. It was not until she opened it that he saw its content.

Hinata walked to the nightstand and put over it the contents of the bag. There were a big bottle of water, an empty basin – which she filled in the bathroom with water -, and three bottles of medium size with a greenish liquid in them.

"Sorry for bother your Christmas", he apologized when she sat down next to him, in his bed.

"Do not worry. It is the less I can do for you", Hinata asseverated. "Besides, I prefer to be here, attending you, than losing my time doing nothing. Now, please, drink this", she said, giving him one of the bottles with the green liquid.

Naruto opened it and drank the beverage without thinking twice.

"It is a restorative Krupal taught me to do", she continued.

The Uzumaki could not help to be surprised and angry by the memory of the professor (why now?), and his astonished was so big that the drink got stuck in his throat. He tried to cough, but since some liquid was still in his mouth when he did it, the greenish fluid escaped from his lips. He did the best to swallow, and when he attained a victory he apologized. Hinata denied with her head, giving him a napkin to clean himself.

She said:

"Do not worry."

Naruto did his best effort to drink what remained of the beverage in the bottle to not offend Hinata, in spite that drinking it made him to remember Randhawa. When he finished the content of the bottle, Hinata said to him:

"Now lie on the bed and try to rest. I am going to put in your forehead an cloth wet with cold water to help you calm your headache. Try to sleep. When you wake up, I can help you to open your presents."

He nodded and did as she said, putting his head over the pillow moments before Hinata placed a damp cloth on his forehead. She took one of his hands and draw invisibles figures in his palm, relaxing him.

When he opened his eyes, Hinata was still with him. A little smile from him warned her that he had woken up.

"Hello", she saluted him.

"Hi", he said with hoarse voice.

"You really have a better aspect! How are you feeling?"

Naruto could not see him, because he did not have any mirrors nearby, but he could say pretty well how he was feeling without seeing himself. He really felt better than moments before. Whatever Hinata had given to him had worked perfectly well.

"I am glad to hear that", Hinata said after he gave a positive answer to her question. "Are you feeling hungry? Do you want something to eat? I can ask for you a soup, nothing heavy that can make you feel bad again. Just give me a minute; I am going to ask somebody in the kitchen for it."

The Hyuga left the room for some minutes, and when she returned she said:

"The cook is going to prepare for you the soup. Meanwhile we are waiting, do you want to open your gifts?"

"I would love to", he asseverated.

Hinata took the presents one by one and put them near the bed, within the reach of Naruto.

He began the open the gifts with her help. He had received a great amount of presents, among which were some new vitamin pills Sakura was trying to put in the market, made by her, a last generation video game console from the Uchiha and packs of clothes from his mother. There was also one of the pervert books of Jiraiya, the new edition, which he made the best to hide of Hinata's eyes.

Hinata put in his hands the gift she had prepared for him. When he opened it he found a sweater hand knitted, blue color. He wore it immediately and thanked her for the gift.

"Thank you for the sweater, Hina-chan. You always are pampering me", he said, hugging her.

When he separated of her Hinata was blushing.

Suddenly she said:

"I want to thank you, too, for your gift, Naruto. I would never have imagined so many types of skeins! And the pattern books are also amazing."

"You do not have to thank me anything, Hinata!"

Well, he thought, if she liked that much the basket with the skeins, he could not imagine her expression when she would saw the present he had for her birthday.

And he was not wrong. When, after blowing the candles on the cake, she opened his gift, he could have swear Hinata's eyes would get hurt by how opened they were.

"Naruto, you should not…!"

"On the contrary, I must", the blond assured. "I hope you like it."

"Of course I like it!"

The rest of the festivity passed by with tranquility. Naruto stayed some more days in the Uchiha mansion until Fugaku invited him, and the rest of the men in the house, to accompany him to go fishing in a fishing cottage he had. They did not return until the last day of December, with their pockets filled with fishes.

The New Year Eve's dinner consisted in its majority in the fishes they had gathered. The rest of the night all they sat before the chimney; and when it only left five minutes to celebrate the coming of the New Year, Fugaku brought a bottle of champagne while a servant put in a table glasses for everyone.

When the New Year arrived, Kushina was the first one to hug him; and when he was near her, she said to his ear with happiness:

"I believe this is the best moment to tell Hinata your true feelings for her, do not you think?"

Since the moment he had been about to tell Hinata what he felt for her, Naruto had not stop in thinking in the best opportunity to do it again. He was tired of waiting for the perfect conditions. If he did not tell her about his feelings soon he was pretty sure Randhawa would trapped her definitely. But he would not say anything to her in front of the gossips of his mother, Sakura, Mikoto, and literally all the Hyuga and the Uchiha families (besides his family) together. What had happened in the living room the day Hinata had arrived in the mansion had been a perfect example for him to not confess his love for her in front the ones they loved. He was going to find a more propitious chance to talk with Hinata.

It was for this reason why he asked her, in the moment she was preparing to leave the mansion with her family:

"Hinata, would you mind seeing me in two or three days? I have to tell you something important, but I must say it without all looking at us."

"Of course!" the Hyuga said, blushing. "I will see you again, then!"

Two days after he and his family left the mansion too. When he arrived to his house, he called Hinata. She accepted to see him the next day.

He felt so excited to see her than he even picked her at her luxurious house. Neji accompanied Hinata to the entry, helping Naruto in avoiding the dangerous walk inside the house (he was afraid to see Hiashi Hyuga and to be in the position to give him an explanation of his presence in his home). Before they left, Neji asked him to take care of Hinata and to accompany her to the house not too late. Naruto accepted.

Naruto took Hinata to a tea house, which she liked, and then she expressed her interest in to see a movie she wanted very badly to watch, so he accompanied her to the movie theater. Then they walked through the empty streets of the city, talking especially of their experiences in the Uchiha household and what they were going to do when classes would begin.

When the sky began to gain a dark blue tonality Naruto thought he had waited enough. He had decided that the moment was the right one to tell to Hinata what he felt for her.

They were walking in a park when he made her to stop:

"Hinata… I… I have something to tell you."

The Hyuga stopped in front of him. When Naruto reached out his hands to take hers, the young woman grabbed them within her hands.

"Hinata", he began, "since I knew you, you have been an important person in my life. We are friends from our childhood, and we have lived many experiences together. You have always been for me, and I have tried to correspond to your devotion. But the true is that I never have been the enough fair with you, with what you have given to me…"

"Naruto…" Hinata murmured, blushing.

"Please, Hinata, let me finish! If not, I do not believe I will have the courage to tell you what I need to say to you."

Hinata nodded.

Naruto breathed two times strongly before continuing:

"Not a long time ago I learned that you love me, and that you have kept that feeling inside you for a very long time without me, as the completely idiot I am!, noticing what you felt for me. I have made you suffer, and you have endured the pain I have given you. But not more! Hinata, I… I love you."

Hinata saw him astonished, with her eyes opened in an expression of amazement.

Naruto repeated with more force, squeezing Hinata's hands between his:

"Yes, I love you! I love you so much I can not find the words to say how much I love you! I only know that I love you, and that I want to be with you, that I want to give you back what you have given me multiplied by one thousand! To give you every instant you have given me! I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you! It is the only thing that matters to me right now…"

"No."

Naruto saw her, surprised. Hinata was seeing him with a cold expression she had never directed to him. In spite of the strong manner in which he was retaining her hands, she freed them, and she walked away.

Suddenly her face wrinkled in a painful contraction. Her eyebrows furrowed and thick tears began to fall from her eyes.

"Why are you doing this to me?!" she cried out.

"Hinata…" Naruto murmured, astonished.

"In this moment! When I had cleaned my mind! No, I will not allow it! I will not allow it!"

Hinata tried to run, but Naruto was faster. Grabbing her firmly by the arm, he made for her impossible the escape. The Hyuga struggled against his strong grip, even demanding him to release her, but the Uzumaki did not obey. On the contrary, he pushed her towards him and hugged her against his body with force, caressing with his fingers her silk dark hair.

"Hinata, please, let me love you! I do not understand! You love me too, I know it! Please, let me be with you!" he pleaded.

But his beg was received with a hit in his chest, which more than hurting him, left him speechless. His surprise was so big that he freed Hinata, and she, taking advantage of her position, ran away of him. Naruto followed her some minutes after.

In spite of that Hinata had begun to run first than him, Naruto did not make a strong effort to reach her. But in the moment he was about to catch her, the Hyuga went outside the park by crossing through some scrubs, and entered in a one way road. The Uzumaki followed her, but when he arrived to the walkway he saw with the corner of his eye a car moving in his direction at full speed. Hinata had not crossed the road yet, and the automobile was driving direct to her.

"Hinata!" he called, but the young woman looked like she did not hear him.

The car did not stop its speed; and soon the lights of its headlights blinded him. He was not sure why Hinata did not move off the road (he still could see her in the street), but he was sure if she did not do something the vehicle was going to clash her.

"Hinata!" he called again, trying to get the young woman out of her reverie.

But Hinata did not move, so he adventured to the street to push her before the car would do its horrible job. However, in the moment he was trying to feeling her back, and to get her out of the road, the lights did not let him to see anything, and Naruto sweated cold by realizing he did not know what to do to save him or the woman he loved.

He intuited the clash, he passed out, and while the darkness took control of his eyes the only thought that went through his mind was Hinata.

* * *

And here it is. Maybe there is not what you are expecting, but as I say everything is going to end well for our beloved couple. And don't worry, they are alright (but it is matter of the next chapter).

I hope you like the chapter. If that so, please leave me a review or follow the story, I promise it is going to be interesting.

See you in the next chapter!


	9. Chapter IX

**The red-eyed monster**

 _A series of murders against young and innocent's women put in check the police and the society. Without clues or any links to lead the police to the whereabouts of this cruel monster, can Hinata Hyuga be saved in time before her name join the list of the victims of the so call red-eyed demon?_

 **Disclaimer:** Naruto and its characters don't belong to me, but Masashi Kishimoto.

Sorry for my english, it's the first time I write in english. I beg your pardon for my grammar errors.

* * *

 **Chapter IX**

 _The lights of the vehicle blinded him in such a way he could not see anything, but only to intuit the elements that were near him. But this impediment did not make impossible for him to guess her presence. He knew she was there, at short distance of where he was, and that if he extended his hand he could touch her, but more important, he could safe her of the eminent clash of the automobile._

 _But for more he stretched his body, her figure seemed distant, less and less within his reach, and the realization of that put him extremely nervous. If only he could touch her! If only he could put her away of the peril!_

 _The car was coming closer. He knew what was going to happen. He shivered of fear. He screamed with all the force of his lungs:_

 _"Hinata!"_

Naruto raised the upper side of his body from the bed, in which he was resting, at the same time he screamed with desperation. When he was sat, he moved his hands in front of his eyes, while breathing agitatedly, feeling as his heart beat with unleashed force and how sweat traveled through his face, chest and back.

But the surprised that had left in him the nightmare soon turned into astonishment when he could not recognize the place in where he was.

After the course of the needed minutes to recover the calm over him, he realized that he was in a room where he had never been before; and what was more, the place in where he was looked like that kind of bedrooms intended in a hospital to the patients to rest their illness.

Besides, he also did not recall have been dressing the clothes, the last time his consciousness could remember, that he was wearing in that moment. In that instant he was carrying a gray t-shirt, and a pair of sweatpants, also of grayish color.

But before he could resolve the question of where he was, a pair of arms encircled his neck and a face leaned over his, soaking his face with tears. Naruto only had to move his eyes to see the face of his mother, flooded with tears. Kushina was holding him against her, while murmuring some words, which the blond could not discern clearly.

"Mom…" he murmured, without being able to hide his surprise before such spectacle.

"Oh, thanks to Heaven you are alright!" the woman exclaimed with joy, embracing him even more, and only separating her face from him to kiss him in his two cheeks and in his forehead. "I thought I was going to lose you."

"Oh, come on, Kushina! You are exaggerating!" a third voice said. "The boy only had an emotional commotion, nothing more! Let him breath!"

But Kushina did not look like to share that opinion because she held the blond even more tightly. Naruto observed, through the free space which left in front of his eyes the curtain of red hair of his mother, the smiling face of Jiraiya. The blond had the feeling that his godfather had passed a miserable night, because he had two black bags under his eyes; and seeing him in that condition made him to ask with more force what was going on there.

"Could someone explain what is happening?" he enquired.

"I see you do not remember anything, mister Uzumaki", a new voice talked.

The door room had opened and a man had entered, wearing the white robe of the medics. Behind him, a nurse was following the newcomer.

The man stepped into the room as if he was not afraid of interrupting something and walked closer to Naruto, to whom he extended his hand. The Uzumaki returned the salute while the man made the presentations:

"I am the doctor Alex Aleister, it is a pleasure to meet you _awake_ , mister Uzumaki."

Naruto asked himself, frowning, what the doctor had wanted to say with that of "awake", but after some minutes he did not say anything about it.

The medic said:

"How do you feel?"

"To tell the truth, confused", Naruto answered. "I still do not understand the reason of my presence in this place."

"I can resolve your doubts, mister Uzumaki!" the doctor asseverated, with a flash of good humor. "Yesterday night you arrived to my hospital unconscious, after almost being hit by a car. The driver, a medical colleague, drove you quickly here so you could be attended. Do not worry!" the man added. "You have not suffered any physical injury. It was only the fright. I am quite sure you will be discharge from the hospital today. But before you can leave, I have to be sure that your vital signs are in order. If you allow it, the nurse is going to make the checks. By the way, did you really do not remember anything?"

Naruto was submitted to all kind of exams, in which it was measure his temperature, his blood pressure and the frequency of his heartbeat. And meanwhile the nurse stuck a needle in his forearm to extract his blood, the Uzumaki made an effort of concentration and tried to remember what had happened the night before. His memories were diffuse, and the only image that appeared in his mind was the blinding lights of a car.

Trying to concentrate in his memories, his eyes suddenly wandered over the nurse, seeing her clear smile and her dark hair, arranged in that moment in a long ponytail. And the picture of her made him to remember another person, another figure who looked similar to the nurse, and the memory made spring a light in his spirit, which occasioned that his heart beat faster again and a worried expression to take control over of his blue eyes.

And the memory of that person brought a name to his mind, which Naruto pronounced as if he was weighing each syllable:

"Hinata…"

To say the name of the older of the two Hyuga daughters unleashed the chaos in his spirit. As if the images came one after another, he lived again the events that had occurred the afternoon and the night before, the confession of his love to Hinata, how she had rejected his feelings, and later, when she had tried to escape from the park where they were, and how an automobile was driving faster and faster towards their direction.

That crowding of memories attacked his head as if a heavy rock had hit him; and Naruto held his skull, squeezing his blond locks between his hands, and bending over the bed, as if he could not support the heaviness of his head.

The doctor quickly moved towards him, as well as Kushina and Jiraiya. But Naruto was very concentrated in his thoughts, in his pain, to realize the presence of the people which surrounded him. He felt like his head was going to split at any second, as well as his heart, by the anguish he was feeling. Now that he remembered Hinata's reject and the possibility almost real that she had been hit by an imprudent driver, the anxiety was taking control over every pore of his skin, making him to stir from concern.

Suddenly, as if he was driven by a force that went out of his control, he grabbed forcefully one of the doctor's arms and demanded to him with tremulous voice, with every vein, every muscle and every bone marked in the skin of his neck:

"Tell me… Please, tell me… Who was that colleague of yours that brought me here? And what happened with the young woman who was with me?"

The doctor saw him with impression; and in spite of his efforts, he could not liberate his arm of the strong grip Naruto had on it.

He finally answered, with a mix of confusion and irritation:

"Truth be told, I do not know the person who brought you here, but I am quite sure he was a medic because he showed me his credentials, and talked about what had happened to you as a professional in the matter. He arrived here in an automobile. While you were transported inside the hospital in a stretcher, I saw that a young woman was inside the vehicle, with the appearance of being fainted, but when I told him that we could also attend her, he said that he was going to take care of her. I remember she was very pretty, with long dark hair. After you were inside the hospital, he gave me a name and a telephone number – the name and the telephone number of your mother – and asked me to call as quickly as possible. After this he left with the young woman."

"And what physical aspect this man had?" Naruto inquired, sweating cold.

"Oh, a very particular one! He was a tall man, brown-skinned, and with a very peculiar pair of red eyes. His name was strange, something Indian. ¡Ejem!... Mister Uzumaki, would you mind to have the kindness to release me? I am losing the sensibility of my fingers!"

The revelation of the medic had cause such impact in the blond that Naruto had not stopped crushing the man's arm, grasping his hand over the white clothes of the man with a ferocious inclemency. And as it seemed he did not have the intention to letting him free, Jiraiya moved near him and removed the strong grip of his godson over the doctor.

"Excuse him!" his godfather quickly apologized.

"Do not worry", the doctor said while massaging the sore area of his arm, where the Uzumaki had crushed his skin without mercy. "I suppose he is not ready to return to home just yet. I will ask for a sedative to calm him, which will make him sleep a little more. I am sure that when he will wake up, he will feel better! If you excuse me…"

The medic and the nurse left the place, and when the room was free of the presence of those two, both Jiraiya and Kushina swooped over him. The woman said to him with a recriminatory tone:

"Could you explain what the hell is going up with you, young man? That man is trying to help you and you attacked him as if you were an animal out of control!"

"Do you not understand, mother?" the blond said angrily in return, surprising his companions. "Do you not see it, mother?! It is him! It is him! Always this damn man! Always this damn Krupal Randhawa! Ah, when I leave this place… When I leave this place…! He has Hinata! Hinata is with him! I have to safe her! I have to rescue her! She can not be with him! Hinata… Hinata…"

It resulted more than obvious for the blond that who had been in front of the steering wheel the night before, which had drove him to the hospital and who was, finally, "taking care" of Hinata was nothing less than Krupal Randhawa. And the realization of this was driving him crazy. He could not understand how this man was always present in Hinata's life even when he did not have to be; and he did not want to comprehend what kind of twisted kindness had driven Randhawa to bring him to the hospital. But what he could see, and with a frightful clarity, was that Hinata was with him, in spite of his efforts to put her aside of him. Hinata was again in the company of that damn man.

He had to get out of there! He had to rescue her of the menace that this man represented for her! But the restrictions of his loved ones to his attempts to escape, plus the memory of the denial of his feelings, made him to stop. And suddenly, as if his behavior had not gone for a different path minutes before, he began to cry.

Kushina surrounded him immediately and held him against her chest. Naruto encircled the back of his mother and hugged her with the same force with which she was hugging him, as if he was trying to make sure that anyone and nothing was going to separate he from her.

The woman rocked him into her arms and sang to him comforting songs, which used to calm him when he was younger, while caressing his blond hair. Later she made him to put his head on the pillow, and she occupied a place near him in the bed, without stopping to hug him.

"She said to me no, mom…" Naruto suddenly murmured. "Hinata denied my feelings for her…"

"Do not think in that in this moment, honey", she said, caressing his face.

But Naruto found it difficult to abstract himself of the idea.

Meanwhile, in another part of the city, Hinata woke up in the same confused situation that Naruto had experienced. The same as the Uzumaki, her memory could not go beyond the moment of the eminent hit of the car – reason for why she felt surprise to see her alive, even unhurt! -; and, the same as the blond, she did not recognize the surroundings in which she had awoke.

But on the contrary of the blond, who had awaken to face a dreadful reality, Hinata had opened her eyes to the world to observe at the feet of the bed, in which she had been lying, the smiling face of Krupal, and it was only sufficed for her the presence of the man to calm her anxiety and doubts.

"How are you?" Krupal asked, coming closer to her.

"I am fine", Hinata confessed. "But, where I am?"

"In my house", Randhawa answered. "I must confess that after what happened yesterday… I am very sorry! It was not my intention to hurt you! I had problems with the brakes of my car, and I could not recover the control of it but until some seconds before reaching you! I am happy to know that I did not hurt any of you!... I confess that I thought prudent to bring you to my home, where I could attend you personally. You are not hurt, but I guess that the bad time has left a bitter impression in you. Again, I am so sorry!... I have called already your father. I could convince him that it was necessary for me to supervise you at least for forty-eight hours. Tomorrow night I am going to take you to your home… Ah, I almost forget! If you are asking about him, Naruto is also unhurt. I took charge to drive him to a well-known hospital of the area."

Hinata registered this information as quickly as Krupal was giving it to her. She did not need to listen to the man's excuses. She was sure that he would have done everything to not hit her with his car; and this that he had had a failure with the breaks it was something that anyone who had a car could experience at any moment. Good thing, as he had said, that the incident had not gone beyond a mere fright! Besides, she felt well, maybe just a little tired. Certainly the event had left a bad taste in her mouth, but she was quite sure that with the pass of the time and with the help of Krupal she was going to recover soon.

But all her serenity vanished when she heard the name of Naruto. The same as had happened with the Uzumaki, the memory of the blond disturbed the spirit of the Hyuga. She felt like she was being submitted to see a tortuous projector, in which came one after another an amount of images at a great speed, without contemplation. And when her mind finished processing those memories, something inside her shattered.

She remembered with clarity that the night before Naruto had been with her, and even felt as a distant ghost his calls to wake her of her state of absorption at the suddenly appearance of Krupal's automobile. But this was not what disturbed her, and not because she did not worry about the Uzumaki, but because what had happened that night and the impression Naruto had left in her.

Naruto had said to her that he loved her! The words Hinata had waited for so long time to hear had sounded finally in her ears. But in what more imprudent moment they were exposed! After everything that had happened between them, after everything that had occurred in her life, after she had taken her decision about her sentiments, and Naruto said to her that he loved her!

If that would have happened some months before, Hinata would have jumped of happiness. But after all the water that had passed under the bridge, how could she rejoice?

She had decided to open her heart to Krupal in detriment of her feelings for Naruto. She had learned to love the man and to correspond to the feelings Randhawa had for her, especially because she had been sure that what she felt for Naruto would be never a mutual sentiment. She had accepted to see the blond more as a friend, as Krupal had suggested, and Hinata had assimilated the idea. Why now Naruto had to ruin everything she had obtained saying the he loved her? How could Hinata know that his feelings for her were true? And if they truly were, was she disposed to sacrifice herself again for the wellness of the Uzumaki?

Many other times Hinata had put Naruto's happiness before hers, seeing him walked through a path she could never walk. And if the circumstances were others, if Krupal did not signify so much in her life, the Hyuga was sure that she would have done the same in that occasion, forgetting all the past mistakes of the blond, and giving herself up to the Uzumaki in body and soul.

But now she could not do it.

On one hand she was frightened, fearing that everything she had listened from Naruto had been a cruel joke of the destiny, and on the other hand she had accepted her feelings for Krupal, and no one and anything could prohibit her to love the man, neither Naruto. She was in love with Krupal, and she knew Krupal loved her. She was not disposed to open her heart to the blond not only because she feared the consequences, but also because if she did so she would be betraying the confidence Randhawa had deposited in her.

However, how much this decisive decision made her suffer! Rejecting Naruto meant breaking for once and for all with a great part of her existence. Her life had been controlled for so many years by the expectation that the man was going to reciprocate her feelings someday that discarding off this part of her being was enough to make her cry. And actually she cried, putting her head over the bed as painful tears escape from her eyes.

"What happen, little one?" Krupal said with preoccupied tone of voice.

Hinata confessed, distressed, her suffering; and Krupal, as kind as always, asked her to reconsider her decision. After all, he said, she had been waiting for many years the moment in which Naruto would return her feelings for her, and he did not mind to move aside to let the woman he loved to be happy with another man. But Hinata rejected such possibility:

"No! No! I have been waiting for a long time, yes! I am still in love with him, that is true! But you have been for me in those tough moments of my life, not him, and it would be unfair to reject you when you love me! I want to be with you, Krupal, because I know I will be safe with you, that you will never betray me, that you will never leave me…"

"I will never do it", the man promised.

"So let me be with you…"

Hinata sat down over the bed and moved closer to where the man was, surrounding his neck with her arms; and driven by an impulse that never the prudence and the shyness of her way of being would allow, she put her lips over the man ones. First the kiss was innocent, a touch of mouths, but with the passing of the seconds it became more passionate; and when Hinata moved her face aside from his, she was completely blushed.

"How much I missed your lips…" Krupal murmured, brushing with his breath the mouth still sensible of Hinata.

The Hyuga blushed even more.

"Alright", Krupal said some minutes after. "If that is what you want, we can be together. But now you have to rest!" he said, recovering his professional tone. "You still have some strength to recover before you will return to your home; in that way I am going to be sure that you are going to be fine. If you want to changes your clothes, a neighbor gifted me some clothes of your size for you. I will make you something to eat. If you want to take a shower, the bathroom is over there", he pointed to a point at the right of the room.

"I would like to take a shower", Hinata confessed, smiling timidly.

"Very well! I am going to leave you alone, then. I will be in the kitchen if you need me. Take as much time as you want."

Krupal kissed her again and then he left the room. Once she was alone, Hinata took a time to inspect the room, which was the bedroom of Krupal. It was clearly the bedroom of a man; a simplistic room in which all things released the fragrance of his cologne, which Hinata knew all too well.

At the right side of the bed, a sofa of two places was leaning its back against a closed window. In it, a paper bag was containing woman clothes, between which Hinata found two pairs of jean, two long-sleeve shirts, one of dark blue color and the other of a lilac tone, a sweater of cream color and a pajama. The bag contained as well woman's underwear, which looked brand-new.

Hinata sighed while grabbing a jean, one of the shirts and a set of underwear. She was feeling a combination of happiness and worry. On one hand she was happy for her reencounter with Krupal and for assuming definitely her feelings for him, but on the other hand she could not erase of her mind the memory of Naruto and his confession. His words were still fresh in her imagination to not cause pain in her spirit; but she was sure that with the help of Krupal the suffering she was experiencing now would be soon a bitter reminiscence in her life.

She entered in the bathroom, which was small and very clean. Over the sink there was a shelf, that was covered with all kind of products for a man. At one side of the shower hung two towels. Hinata took one, and minutes after she washed herself with hot water, feeling as her muscles loosened up under the charm of the hot shower. When she left the bathroom she felt as she was a new person.

In spite of the door being closed, to her nose arrived the smell of food recently made. She moved without thinking, following the delicious smell, through the house, until she reached the kitchen, where Krupal was finishing cooking.

"Do you want to eat?" Krupal asked her, smiling. "Sit down; I am going to serve the food soon."

Hinata did so, taking a seat in a long meson which divided the kitchen of the living room.

Krupal's house was small, only consistent in a living room which shared its space with the kitchen, and in which were gathered a small personal library, two long sofas and a television of big proportions; as well as the entire furniture one could expect of a kitchen, in the side of that area. At the right of this shared room was a hallway, which conducted to the man's bedroom and to two bathrooms.

She ate with pleasure when the food was served; and after eating the delicious meal, Krupal asked her to eat a tablet, which would help her if the horror of what had happened to her would attack her suddenly. Hinata drank it without any question.

After the man cleaned the plates, he showed to her his house. Hinata saw different places of the residence, in where she found a little garden, in which Krupal used to gather some spices for his foods; a room where was hung his title as a medic and some photographs of his family. Finally he showed her the library, which had many books of different topics, most of all of medicine. Hinata, with the man's permission, took two books to spend the time she was going to be in his house.

During the rest of the day she read in the living room until dinner time, in which Krupal showed to her again his skills in the kitchen. At midnight she went to sleep. Krupal let her to rest in his room while he took a place in the living room; but when was three o'clock in the morning, surrounded by nightmares, she went by his side, and he allow her to sleep with him. When she woke up the next morning Krupal was not with her.

When she rose from the sofa, she found out, in the table in where she had been taking her meals, a note from Krupal, next to her breakfast. The man excused himself for his absent, and invited her to feel like she was in her home.

Hinata ate the breakfast Krupal had prepared for her and after it, once she cleaned her plate, she select one of the books she had taken from the man's library and spent her time reading. But when he bones began to get sore, she put aside the book and stood on her feet, walking through the house without knowing what to do next. The afternoon was coming to an end, and the sky was beginning to acquire the blue tone of a day that is finishing. Hinata saw a clock on one of the walls of the kitchen, surprising to see that it was almost five o'clock in the afternoon.

Until then she had not realized how much concentrated she had been reading, but now that she was seeing the hour she could not stop asking herself what had happened with Krupal. He had promised to her to return her to her home that night, and even though Hinata did not doubt of his word, she truly believed, knowing how strict was her father, that her tardiness was not going to be seen with good eyes by the head of the Hyuga family.

Besides, she had not eaten anything after the breakfast, and she was feeling the lack of food in her stomach. Although Krupal had written to her that she could feel like she was in her house, Hinata was not sure of until which point went that right. She truly did not believe that it covered the possibility for her to make herself a snack.

In the moment she was thinking about what to do with her hunger, she heard a sound. First she thought that it was Krupal, who was arriving home, but after she saw through the window that pointed towards the entryway, she knew she was wrong.

The noise was heard again, and Hinata, following an intuition, moved through the house until she reached a staircase that went down to a basement. She descended for it, and meanwhile she was doing it, she perceived the sound with more clarity. It was from there where the noise was being produced. But after she turned on the light, and after not seeing in the room anything more than machines for the physical conditioning and empty boxes, Hinata frowned, feeling as a stupid for think that the sound was coming from the basement.

But in the moment she turned around to go up through the staircase, she heard clearly the sound of a human voice, weak, sobbing, that was saying:

"He… Help… Help…"

Hinata got extremely nervous when she heard the claim. Where did the voice come from? The Hyuga returned to the basement, stood in the center of the room and closed her eyes, trying to locate from where the sound was been emitted. The voice reached her ears once more, in the same weak manner that it had been heard before, and Hinata had the security that it came from some place behind the basement walls. Could it be the noise of the house of a neighbor? The young woman took a step closer to one of the walls to put her ear on it and to try to listen.

"What are you doing, Hinata?" a masculine voice interrogated her suddenly.

Hinata jumped on herself when she heard Krupal's voice. She turned around to see him, but when she saw his red eyes with an angry sparkle, she wished she had not done that. Was he irritated with her for her presence in the basement?

"I… I heard a sound…" Hinata excused herself. "Someone was asking for help…"

"And did not you think in your pretty head that it could be the sound of a television?" Krupal said, making a mocking smile.

She blushed.

"The truth is that I did not think about it…"

How could she have been that stupid? Krupal was right. Now that she thought about it, the possibility that the sound came from the television of one of Krupal's neighbors did not see like an irrational hypothesis.

"I have to drive you to your home", the man said, bringing her out of her thoughts. "Maybe would you like to change clothes before leaving. My neighbor said that you can conserve the clothes if you want; and I want to give to you the books you have chosen for my library. You can keep them."

Hinata gladly accepted the gifts.

After they leaved the basement, Hinata went to Krupal's room and entered in the bathroom after the owner of the house picked some of his clothes to change. She took a quick shower, and when she was dressed, she put the remaining garments inside the paper bag over the sofa, near the bed. When she walked off the house, Krupal was waiting for her, inclined over his car, while finishing a cigarette.

The returned to her house was made in silence, and Hinata thanked it. The truth was that she felt tense about the reaction her father was going to have in front of Krupal. Hiashi usually did not like the foreigners, and Krupal, with his eccentric aspect, could not look any more foreigner to the eyes of the head of the Hyuga family. Besides, she was worried about the sure demand her father was going to make to her, and thinking about the answers she was going to give him made her extremely nervous.

When they arrived to the Hyuga mansion, Krupal accompanied her to the front door. Hinata would have preferred for him to not do that, but when the door opened and before it appeared the stoic and cold face of her father, the Hyuga knew it was already too late to be regret.

"Mister Hyuga", Krupal made the presentations, "I am Hinata's professor, the one who talked with you on the phone about the accident that almost your daughter suffered. As I promised when I called you, here I bring your daughter, safe and sound."

"Father…" Hinata murmured, ducking her head.

"I suppose you are expecting a compensation for the inconvenience", Hiashi said with cold voice.

Hinata observed as Krupal smiled and denied with his hands.

"It is not necessary to pay me anything", he said. "Your daughter is a very special person for me, and to have the pleasure to serve her is enough payment for me. Besides, to have the pleasure to know you, to such important man, it is not something to dismiss. I have to confess that I feel for you a great admiration, and I share your opinion about what it has to be done with the economy of this country."

"Really?" Hiashi said with a pleased voice.

Hinata held her wants to open her mouth in an expression of surprise. Could it be really possible that Krupal was winning the favor of her father? If something Hiashi liked the most was that someone massaged his ego, and Randhawa was doing it in a splendorous way. Truly, how much she admired Krupal!

After pleasing his ears a little more, Hiashi said to the guest:

"Would you like to enter? I will like to speak with you in a more comfortable place."

"Are you telling the true?" Krupal asked with marveled voice. "Did I not cause you any problem?"

"Not a single one. Please, follow me."

Hiashi let Krupal to enter in the mansion, and Hinata, following astonished the scene, walked with the two men to a small and cozy room, where the head of the Hyuga family used to reserve for those whom he liked.

The man invited Krupal to have a seat, and later offered him an alcoholic beverage and a cigar. Randhawa accepted the drink, but said the preferred to smoke his own cigarettes – if Hiashi did not mind! Since his host did not bother about that detail, Krupal lit a cigarette; and then both men got into a profound conversation. Hinata, feeling like she did not have anything to do in there, went to her room.

Her bedroom, usually clean, still showed the vestiges of her holidays with her Uchiha relatives. Over her desk was a little and long box of velvet, which Hinata took to discover in its interior the beautiful necklace Naruto had given her for her birthday. She had been thinking in wearing it the day she had seen him, reason why the box was still in the table. The view of the jewel made her to remember the confession of the Uzumaki, and once again the pain took possession of her chest. But Hinata made an effort to forget the memory; now that she had Krupal by her side all the agony that she was feeling in that moment would be vanished.

When she descended from her room, she found out that Krupal had been invited by her father to have the dinner with them:

"Your father insisted a lot", Krupal said to her, smiling.

In the moment they sat at the table, Hiashi presented to his guest to his younger daughter and his nephew. Hanabi and Neji returned the salute.

The dinner was served with promptness. The food looked delicious. While they were eating, Hiashi said:

"I hope Hinata is being a good student."

"One of the best", Krupal asseverated. "I am quite sure that in the future she is going to be an excellent doctor."

Hinata could not help but blushed by the compliment.

After the coffee and the deserts, Krupal excused himself, alleging that he had a very important commitment that could not admit more delay. Hiashi accepted his excuses and let him go. While she was preparing to accompany him to his vehicle, Neji called her apart.

"Hinata, what relation you have with this man?" her cousin asked.

Hinata could not be more honest:

"I love him", she answered.

And she showed to herself how much in love she was with Krupal when she returned his kiss with the same passion he was giving to her.

When they separated, she asked with her lips brushing his:

"Do you have really to go?"

"Regrettably yes, my beautiful Hinata", Krupal said. "By the way, before I forget it, I want to gift you something. I was expecting to give this to you back in college, but given the circumstances… I have learned that your birthday had just passed some days behind, and that you were celebrating your twenty-one year of life. Since that was a very important accomplish in the life of any human being, I considered it would be fine to give you a gift for your birthday."

Krupal took a step away of her and began to register one of the pockets of his jacket. Some minutes after this, he showed to her a medium velvet box, which he opened, revealing before her eyes a beautiful gold bracelet, with diamonds and little emeralds over the jewel. When she saw such beautiful ornament, Hinata was speechless.

"Krupal…" she murmured.

"I want to ask you to consider this not only as your birthday gift, but also as an alliance of our love", Randhawa pleaded.

Hinata blushed.

The man moved closer to her ear and murmured:

"I love you, Hinata."

And the Hyuga's eyes sparkled with happiness, while tears ran through her cheeks.

A new kiss put an end to the encounter, and Hinata stayed in the paved pathway that went to the mansion, seeing as Krupal's car disappeared in the dark horizon of the night.

And while the doors of the Hyuga mansion closed behind her, in the automobile the figure of Krupal Randhawa suffered a change. It was like as if the façade which represented the man was nothing more than a mask well worn by him, because as soon as he disappeared of Hinata's sight his expression transformed into another. Krupal relaxed his face, his eyes sparkled with a malicious glint and his mouth acquired a hardness expression.

The man drove to his house in silence, while smoking. When the vehicle reached his home, he crushed what remain of the cigarette in the car's ashtray and got off the automobile, walking towards the building.

With quickly movements, almost like a feline, he walked without thinking twice to the basement, in where Hinata had heard those calls of help, but, finding the room empty of anything suspicious, she took them as a trick of her imagination.

What the Hyuga had not gotten to see, and that probably she would have never found, was the alphanumerical panel which opened by moving a section in one of the walls, and that the man unlocked with the easiness of someone used to make it work. He pressed some keys on the keyboard and after some seconds an entire side of a wall to his right opened, revealing a hidden room.

It was a kind of laboratory, in where was a stretcher, which had four straps to hold the wrist and the ankles of a person, as well as various medic instruments and potions of all kind. The stretcher was surrounded by plastic curtains, and over it was a fabric of the same material. Near the bed, hung in a wall, some tools for the torture were exposed to the sight.

But the man did not take interest in that place and continued moving to a room to his right. It was closed, but the man only had to put the key in the keyhole to open it. When the door swung open, a blizzard of cold air came over him. But it was not the only thing the close door was keeping inside. In the room was a naked woman, who was asking hoarsely for help.

The man entered in the room and inclined over a wall while seeing that mimicry of woman with a malignant expression. The woman, which some time during her life had carried the name of Alice Brown, the friend of the detective David Craig, the police candidate, returned to him a sight of supplication.

"It is time to die, do not you think it, my beloved Alice?" the red-eyed monster said with joy.

* * *

And here is the chapter! I hope you like, and if that so please follow my story or leave me a review, I will thank it very much. See you in the next chapter!


	10. Chapter X

**The red-eyed monster**

 _A series of murders against young and innocent's women put in check the police and the society. Without clues or any links to lead the police to the whereabouts of this cruel monster, can Hinata Hyuga be saved in time before her name join the list of the victims of the so call red-eyed demon?_

 **Disclaimer:** Naruto and its characters don't belong to me, but Masashi Kishimoto.

Sorry for my english, it's the first time I write in english. I beg your pardon for my grammar errors.

* * *

As you can see I have made some little changes to the tittle of the story; and it is by this same reason the delay of this chapter. Since the story has arrived to its tenth chapter, I thought that I would be nice to revise the chapters I have written so far and correct them as better as possible, mostly because I am feeling that my English is improving with every chapter I write.

On the other hand, I want to anounce that I have a beta-reader, who is revising the first chapters, so if you find a message **with this format** it's because the chapter has already been revised by her. The beta-reader of the story is **ZEKI FOR LIFE** , who I thank very much for her help.

This chapter has a different form of being told, and it have very much to do with the red-eyed monster as character. I considered it would be fine to show more about him, his life, and what has driven him to be this fearsome killer, so I hope you enjoy the chapter.

* * *

 **Chapter X**

 _Alice liked very much to be in the police station. It did not only pleased her to be in the place by her aspirations to become someday an agent of the law, but also because she really appreciated the always kind treatment she received from her policemen coworkers; because she liked to think that, even with a cup of hot coffee, she was helping that to a suffering soul went out of station with a smile after receiving a ray of hope that hers or his case was going to be resolved; but more than anything she liked to be inside the police department's walls due to David Craig._

 _But undoubtedly one of the reasons that gave more heaviness to her desire was her fragile familiar situation. She liked to be inside the police station because in that way she could not see how her mother drugged herself and how she forget her sons in the arms of some unknown man, because she did not want to be a witness of how, thanks to the negligence of the woman who had given her life, her two little brothers were growing up under the unrest of not knowing how it felt to being protected by a maternal guard._

 _Important dates, as birthdays or Christmas, had been, since Alice could remember, always stained by her mother neglect; and that Christmas was not different. Once more her mother stood out by her absent; but this time she had taken with her something Alice loved very much, something which until then had helped her to endure that painful festivity: her two little brothers; to whom the young woman had been in the obligation to take care of them as if they were her own sons. Her mother, in another of her brazen acts, had taken them to pass the Christmas in the house of the man she had recently conquered, leaving Alice alone to pass the holiday all by herself._

 _For Alice her absence did not matter. She had become accustomed a long time ago that her mother was not going to be at her side in the Christmas festivities; but she could not help but felt sad by the absence of her two little brothers. Her home, already before a depressing place, now felt even more gloomy and desolate._

 _That was the reason behind her presence that day of December 24 in the offices of the police department, doing what she knew the best: serving coffee recently made to her policemen companions and trying to gladden their lives through shows of joy – which were not exactly agree with how she was really feeling. But, after all, it could not be said that she was unhappy. The absence of her brothers did not let her to forget that she was in her favorite place in the world; and even though the love of her life, David Craig, was not in the city, by a forced vacation, she neither could say that she felt alone. After all, she was in the place she liked the most, and that was a fact more than enough to make her smile with a truly happy smile once in a while._

 _She celebrated the arrive of the Christmas with her coworkers and drank with them champagne in plastic glasses when the clock marked twelve o'clock in the morning, announcing that the Christmas Eve had finished; but soon the magic moment finished. The police was a very strict organization when it came to the rules. At that hour of the midnight it used to arrive the policemen who were going to take charge of the midnight turn; and even though Alice wanted very badly to stay in there, so she would not have to go to her cold house, she knew she could not do as she desired. After all, she was not more than a kind of intern in the police department. Anyone could make coffee and serve it. Alicia was not indispensable to make work the great mechanism that was the police. She knew that refuse the pre-set orders could entail for her a scold, and it was what she least wanted. She did not want to think of what could happen with her if her superiors prohibited her to enter again in the police station!; besides, she could not deny she was pretty tired._

 _She walked to the room in which she had left her belongings, and she picked them up. But when she was almost about to retire she heard quite clear the sound of a desk's drawer being forced._

 _The police department was divided in various sections: one that was the most important of all, and the biggest, was the one that belong to the reception, where it normally could be saw gathered the receptionists and the police officers, the same one that she had left minutes before; and another room that had the same importance as the first one was a small receptacle that belonged to the detectives. Alice knew very well that zone of the department because she had been many times in there with the excuse of bringing coffee to David Craig (as well to the other detectives); and she could swear that, in spite of the distance which separate her from that place in that moment, the sound that she had heard was coming from there._

 _Unlike the place she had just abandon, the zone which belonged to the detectives was secured site, a long hall filled with many offices, in which one could not enter in without the proper key. When Alice arrived to the place she found, between the complete dark, a light that escaped from one of the doors, door which it could be clearly saw that was halfway opened by the same light that flooded from it. And which was more, she knew that this same door was the one that preceded the office of David Craig._

 _One of the benefits of receiving the training to become a police was the facility with which she could access to weapons. Alice counted with a small pistol, that the woman knew how to use with a great skill. She took out of her handbag the mentioned above gun and walked with stealthy and silent steps until she reached the office's door._

 _But Alice was not prepared for what was waiting for her inside the room._

 _It was leaned against the detective's desk a tall man, brown-skinned, dressed with certain elegance, as if he had been moments before in some Christmas party. A part of his face was hidden under a black scarf, which covered his face until reaching the beginning of the nose; and Alice could not see his eyes, these fixed over some paper sheets that he was reading with avidity._

 _It took to Alice some time to accept what was in front of her. Her head could not admit the idea that such a good looking man, who seemed that he never had had problems with the law, was in a place in which was prohibited the enter; and especially that he was so comfortably leaned against a desk that did not belong to him, reading some papers that she was pretty sure that he did not have the right to be reading. The gun, which now was pointing to the floor product of the surprise of its owner, weighed in her hand, as if it was remembering to her of its presence._

 _The young woman did not know what to do. Should she demand to the unknown to make his withdrawal under the threat that she was going to call for help if he did not do as she had commanded? Should she ask for help before trying anything alone, letting that more experienced people dealt with the situation?_

 _Finally she decided. She did her best to gather inside her the courage to confront the man._

 _But in the moment Alice was walking toward him, to face him and to ask him the necessary questions, she suddenly got paralyzed where she was. While she was moving in the direction of the unknown man, she had managed to perceive of what the papers in his hands were treating, and the surprise that generated in her the knowledge was enough to make her to stop. The papers the man was holding between his hands were the reports that Craig had achieved to gather about the red-eyed monster; and which the same detective had kept inside of one of the drawers of his desk, locked with his personal key by himself before taking his vacation._

 _After the minutes of surprise had passed, Alice felt as her blood boiled inside her veins. How could he dare? With what right he had taken those papers when Craig had put so much effort in gather them? She was going to show to that man to not lay his hands on the work of her beloved detective!_

 _She pointed her pistol to the unknown man and she cried out with a command voice:_

 _"Leave those papers in this moment!"_

 _But for her surprise, the unknown did not bother by her demand._

 _"I told you to leave those papers in this very moment! If not, abstain to the consequences! Those papers do not belong to you!"_

 _"You are going to pardon me, my dear, but these papers belong to me the same as to that good man of Craig because they are talking about me."_

 _Alice felt as her willpower decrease after that answer. What the hell was trying to say that man with this that the papers belonged to him as well because they treated about him? But if those reports were about the red-eyed monster…! Suddenly she could not breathe._

 _All the mechanism of her brain began to work at full speed before such revelation. Those reports talked to the red-eyed monster, and that man….! That man…!_

 _"Well!" the unknown exclaimed, attracting her attention, after taking off from his face the black scarf. "How stupid I have been by thinking that Craig would have had more information about my case! After everything I have done so far and he has moved just this little… What a shame…! Is it that maybe I have been too perfectionist in my job or is it that the police is definitely idiot? With all the faith that I had had in this man! This happens to me for having so much good faith in the others…"_

 _The man rose from Craig's desk and walked around the furniture, until being behind the table. With the same easiness with which he surely had opened the drawer, he moved it and put the reports in its interior, making sure after it that the drawer was in the same condition as he had found it. And meanwhile he was doing this, Alice could not look away from the man, especially to his face, of to his eyes. They were of a striking red, of a tonality Alice never had seen until that opportunity in the eyes of anyone._

 _After he finished with what he was doing, the man walked away of the desk and moved towards her._

 _"Tell me, darling, have not returned our cherish detective, David Craig, from his vacation?"_

 _But Alice did not listen to the question. Her mind was completely concentrated in only one thought: in which what that man represented. All the information she had absorbed, all the details she had perceived; there were no space for doubts in the young woman. Than man was nothing less than the killer who had tormented the police since seven months ago, the same demon in person: the red-eyed monster._

 _Feeling that with every second that she spent in the presence of the man her life was in danger, an only thought took possession of Alice's spirit: she must escape from there. Given some steps backwards, so that the killer did not notice her intentions, Alice moved to the door; and it was not until she was at a very short distance of her escape that she turned around and ran with all her strength._

 _But she had not finished crossing through doorsill when she felt as a hand grabbed her wrist; and seconds later Alice was dragged inside the office, the door closing behind her in consequence of her back clashing against its surface. A pair of hands held her arms strongly, and Alice felt the fearsome face of the killer over hers._

 _"Were you going somewhere, darling?" the red-eyed assassin said._

 _Alice cursed her luck in low voice. She was afraid. She had the feeling that at any moment that man was going to take out of one of his pockets a knife and would slice her throat, or that he was going to put his hands around her neck, strangling her until life would have escaped from her lungs. But she also felt waves of energy going through her body. The adrenalin travelled through her veins until reaching her brain with an extraordinary speed, and a necessity to do something was agitating her._

 _The force with which the killer was holding her was inhibit her for moving her arms with liberty, and the way he was grabbing her made it difficult for her to move her torso. But her face and legs were free. She ought to use them to free herself if she wanted to get out alive from there and with the sufficient strength to warn the policemen inside the police station that the red-eyed monster was in the place._

 _She just needed some time to think. And for it, she must gain some time. For obtaining this, she did the only thing she could think it would work: talking with the man to distract him._

 _"So, after all, David was right by thinking that it was you the killer. You are the exact person he was being suspecting all this time!"_

 _"Regrettably for our cherish detective, he does not have the enough proofs to put me behind bars", the red-eyed killer scoffed._

 _"But he will have them!" Alice asseverated. "When I leave here, I am going to tell him everything I know!"_

 _"If you get out of here alive…"_

 _Alice swallowed with bitterness that sentence of death, but she obligated herself to keep calm. While she had been talking, she had been moving her arms to one side and to the other to see if she could liberate them of the strong grip the assassin had on them, but without succeeding. To her goddamn luck, the red-eyed monster was a clever man; and the more she tried to free herself, the more he tightened his grasp._

 _"How did you enter here?" the young woman continued in her tried to distract the man the enough to free herself of her distressing situation._

 _"Oh, it was extremely easy! As you surely have been able to see, darling, there is not a place inviolable for me, neither the same police station. I proposed myself as an objective to make an appearance here, so here I am, without anything and nobody that can stop my will."_

 _"When David realizes you have been in his office, he is not going to have mercy on you!"_

 _"What our cherish detective can think about my presence in his office do not bother me a little, darling" the red-eyed monster asseverated, smiling._

 _The true was that after that chatter Alice was quite far away of obtaining her objective to distract the killer, and less to reach her purpose to free herself. So the young woman drew on her second plan, which was to take advantage of the brute force._

 _Alice had a good training in martial arts, and she considered herself the enough suitable to defend herself appealing to that practice of combat._

 _She had lost her patience already. She had had enough. Maybe the red-eyed monster was that chilling being that filled with nightmares the nights of all the people living in the city, but Alice was not a scaredy-cat. Even though she felt frighten before the man, she was not going to let him to do with her as easily as he wanted. Alice was going to defend herself, even though that was the last thing she was going to do in her life._

 _Taking momentum, she inclined towards the man and elevated one of her legs to his crotch, hitting strongly that zone so much sensible for the men. When, product of the pain, the killer stooped, in the process letting free one of her arms, Alice moved with force the lower part of her palm to the nose of the other, giving him a strong blow to it, without clemency. When she was completely free, she moved towards the phone over Craig's desk without losing a minute, grabbing the device and taking refuge under the table._

 _She pushed quickly the keys to mark Craig's telephone number, remembering the promise that she had made to him that if anything bad happened to her she was going to call him. Maybe the man could not help her directly because of the distance which separated each other, but he could call an official of high rank, who was not only going to safe her, but also was going to put an end to the nightmare of the red-eyed killer. But after she marked the numbers and put the receiver against her ear, the silence was what she received in exchange. The telephone line had been cut._

 _While the dread travelled through every pore of her skin, Alice listened to her companion saying:_

 _"Well, well! This pretty kitty has very sharp claws."_

 _The red-eyed killer had said that with joyful voice._

 _Since she could no longer count with telephone of the office, Alice decided to take the risk to leave her hideout to go to grab her handbag, where was her cellphone. In the hustle of the moment her purse had fallen to the floor; and the young woman, as concentrated as she had been in the idea of calling Craig before the red-eyed monster could recover, had forgotten to pick it up._

 _But in the moment she was adventuring to leave her hideout, she felt as a strong hand grabbed her by the neck and later as she was raised in the air, until her body crashed against a wall. When she downed her eyes she saw with blurry look, by the lack of oxygen, the face of the red-eyed monster, which in that moment was seeing her with a mixture of anger and amusement. He had a smirk plastered on his mouth. But what impressed Alice the most was the stain of blood he had on his face, which began under his nose and went down in a thin line to his neck, staining the collar of his dark shirt. Could she really admit, after everything she had seen of that man, that he was a human being as her?_

 _"You are a quite clever girl, my little Alice", the killer said with evident pleasure._

 _Alice could not be less than surprised: he knew her name._

 _"I would never have imagined that such beautiful lady as you was going to be capable of doing against me something like this", the red-eyed monster continued, pointing out with his free hand the path of blood on him._

 _The woman felt as the pressure on her neck tightened. She closed the eyes, sure of her eminent death._

 _"Maybe I must kill you by your audacity… But, for your fortune, I have not come here to end your life."_

 _In the moment the man was finishing to say this last sentence, Alice felt that the hand which was around her neck loosened; and when she was free, her body slid by the wall until it reached the wooden floor of the office. The young woman inhaled repeatedly to recover herself of the lack of oxygen she had been experiencing moments before._

 _When she felt a little better, she asked with hoarse voice:_

 _"How…? How do you know my name…?"_

 _"When I was here, I could not apart my eyes of you", the murderer confessed. "Not a single time, during my stay here, you left your position at Craig's side, as if you were a kind of dog loyal to its owner. Interested as I was, I considered it relevant to learn your name. That is why I know what your name is."_

 _Alice frowned by that answer, feeling as if her life had been violated by the man._

 _"Tell me, little one", the demon continued, "are you in love…?... Are you really doing this?"_

 _While he was talking, Alice had recovered the enough strength to go to recuperate her gun under Craig's desk, which by a kind of miracle had not left her hand during those minutes in which the red-eyed monster had held her against the door of the office, and now she was aiming it against the man._

 _"I am going to shoot you!" she promised._

 _"Are you going to do it?" the red-eyed monster said. "Are you really going to do it? I challenge you to do it, my dear! I challenge you to shoot me, to kill me! End up once and for all with nightmare that represents my life to the others! End up once and for all with the red-eyed monster! End up with the peril I represent! I challenge you!... But look how you are trembling! Destiny is offering to you the opportunity and you fear! But, little Alice, you do not have to be afraid! Finishing with my life you will become a heroin!... Do you refuse the offer? Are you still shaking? Bah! You are not as brave as I have thought!"_

 _Effectively, Alice, against of the force with which she had thrown her promise to kill the man, was struggling to find inside her the will to press the trigger and to finish with the life of that frightening killer. The gun was shaking in her hands without control, moving over the man's forehead without her being able to control the movement._

 _The killer held her trembling hands between his and said, while aiming the gun against his head:_

 _"Shoot", he ordered._

 _But Alice could not press the trigger._

 _And anybody could not blame her for her behavior. After all, it was the first time that she was using a gun against somebody; and the red-eyed killer himself was not helping her at all with his closeness. Alice could not apart her eyes of his well-formed face, to his fascinating red eyes, and she could not help but felt ashamed of how much she liked the contact of his hands against hers. She blushed without she could control her emotions._

 _Minutes passed without anything happen._

 _Suddenly, to Alice's surprise, the man snatched the gun from her hands. The red-eyed demon had it now between his hands, and was supporting the pistol over his palms as if he was measuring its weight._

 _Alice closed her eyes, afraid that he was going to shoot her._

 _"I repeat myself, I have not come here to kill you, Alice", the man said._

 _Alice observed him with an incredulous look._

 _"I am telling the true, little one! The truth is that I am here because I wanted to speak with Craig, but since he is still on vacation, you are as useful to me as him."_

 _The young woman observed him surprised._

 _The red-eyed monster leaned backwards, sitting on the floor and extending his legs over the parquet. He took out of his jacket's inside pocket a black handkerchief, with which he began to clean the blood stains over his skin._

 _Suddenly he exclaimed:_

 _"I am so tired of this!"_

 _Alice opened her mouth with an amazement expression. What he was trying to say?_

 _The red-eyed monster directed his eyes to her. The young woman could see that even though he had cleaned the blood that had been on his skin, he still had some dots of dry blood in his neck and at the reach of his collarbone._

 _But what the man said next distracted her of the observation:_

 _"Yes, I am so tired! Being an assassin is not an easy path of life to follow, and I am fed up of being the red-eyed monster. I am so tired of killing! So tired of doing so much damage!... This is something I can not control anymore! I have an entity inside me, a monstrous creature that makes me kill. But I do not want to be like this anymore!"_

 _The man suddenly came closer to Alice, who, afraid, observed as he put his forehead over hers._

 _"That is the reason of my presence here, my dear Alice. I want to end up with this nightmare."_

 _"Surrender you to justice", Alice murmured._

 _The red-eyed demon smiled sadly._

 _"I am afraid that it is not so easy", he muttered. "Besides, I want that the one who put me in jail will be someone who has worked harshly to trap me. And the only person which corresponds to this characteristic is David Craig."_

 _Alice blushed, and nodded. No one but her adored detective had worked so strongly to put behind bars the red-eyed monster._

 _"Do you understand me, dear? I have become something that goes beyond me. I am famous, but for the wrong reasons. I am recognize, but for my evilness. If David Craig traps me he will not only be taking the victory, but he will obtain an infinite glory. He will become the man that has finished with the red-eyed monster's nightmare! Do not you think that this perspective is more than fair for him, my cherish Alice?"_

 _"Yes…" the woman murmured._

 _"So then, are you going to accept to be the intermediary between him and me?"_

 _Alice jumped of the surprise. What was he trying to say?_

 _"I have been thinking that the best option for achieving what I have proposed to myself is to give letters with my confession to Craig, letters like this one."_

 _The demon took out of the inside of his jacket a white envelope, which had these words written over it: "To David Craig"._

 _"I want that you give them to him, if you accept my proposition."_

 _Alice could not help her disbelief. Did the killer really want that she would become the intermediary between him and David? On one hand, she did not feel secure to perform such important part in that play. What if somebody surprised her relation with the murderer? What if someone, who was not Craig, read the letters? But on the other hand she could not negate that such perspective enthused her. To have the possibility to help her beloved detective, and especially in a case in which he had worked so much, it was more than what Alice could dream. If the red-eyed monster had chosen her for such significant duty, why she would not accept it?_

 _Finally she nodded._

 _"Excellent!" the man exclaimed while passing her the envelope._

 _Alice took it._

 _"In the nearby future I am going to give you more. I have to order my ideas before writing down them on paper. You take charge to give the letters to Craig when he will come back."_

 _To her surprise, Alice received a kiss in the cheek._

 _After this, the man rose from the floor and walked to the door, which he opened, disappearing moments after in the darkness of the hallway. Alice followed him with the eyes until he disappeared. Then, suddenly, she stood up, following the influence of an idea._

 _She ran as quickly as she could to the zone of the police department where the vigilance of the station was. When she arrived to the place, she asked to one of the men there, a guy who was her friend, to show her what the security cameras of the hallway of the detectives had recorded so far. When the recording was played before her, she found out, to her amazement, that the presence of the red-eyed monster had passed unnoticed to the cameras, as if he had never been with her moments before._

* * *

 _During the following three days Alice did not think in anything more than in her encounter with the red-eyed monster. She reviewed again and again in her mind the events of that night, and she recalled each one of the words that the man had expressed to her, especially his confession to surrender himself to justice and the part she was going to play in that his capture would be an imminent fact._

 _Throughout these three days the killer had not contacted her; and Alice had not only made great efforts to not tell to her coworkers or to the chief inspector what had happened that midnight of Christmas inside Craig's office, but also to not read the letter that the fearsome man had left for David._

 _Every time she was going to sleep, every time she woke up, every time she prepared herself to face the day, throughout those three days, Alice had observed with the interest that a candy fan see a cake the letter written by the red-eyed demon. But at last, defeated by the curiosity, she opened the envelope and read the paper in its interior:_

 _"My estimated detective,_

 _Since I have begun this little personal adventure, which has transformed me, against my will, in the red-eyed monster, you have not stopped following me; and, as I have expressed to you previously, I am quite sure that all the efforts you have put against me to stop me has helped you very little to let me feel your presence over my head._

 _But I am tired of these useless games, of the police and the burglar, of the cat and the mouse. What I am trying to say with this it is that I surrender myself to you. I am fed up of what I am, reason why I ask you (more properly, I beg you!) to stop me once and for all, to put around my writs the handcuffs and to drag me to jail so you can help me to put an end to what I represent, because I do not have the strength to stop myself._

 _I hope you are going to take my proposition into consideration, and that you will not dismiss my help by the resentment that I know very well you have against me._

 _Waiting that you will think in my offer,"_

 _And at the end of the letter, the recognized signature of an eye with a vertical pupil, that Alice knew all too well._

 _The red-eyed monster had told the truth._

 _It was not until the fourth day of her encounter with the man that Alice found out inside her locker a rose of a spectacular red tone together with a white rectangular sheet, in which was drawn an eye with a vertical pupil in red ink, as the one she had received in the train station the day Craig had departed to his vacation. In the paper was written these words: "tomorrow, eight o'clock", and an address. The red-eyed monster was claiming her presence for another interview._

 _The next day, after she returned to home and she prepared herself for the reunion, she called a taxi and she went to the meeting place. It was a restaurant that had seen better times, where were gathered various people of sickly and poor aspect. "What a beautiful place!" she thought to herself, meanwhile she searched with her eyes for the red-eyed monster between all those individuals, unsuccessfully._

 _Suddenly, when she was giving up and was telling to herself that she had become the victim of a ruse of bad taste, she felt the touch of cold fingers on her back, and she flinched. Immediately after this, she saw the profile of the red-eyed killer._

 _He took her wrist and said to her ear:_

 _"Follow me."_

 _They entered in the restaurant and sat down at a table._

 _A waitress came to their encounter._

 _"A coffee and a sandwich for me", the killer said. "And for the lady…"_

 _"Only a coffee", Alice said with cold voice._

 _The waitress retired with their orders._

 _Twenty minutes later she returned with their food._

 _Alice drank the coffee while observing with her brows furrowed how the killer ate the sandwich he had asked for. The young woman saw him eating with pleasure, fact that did not help her to calm her anger against that man. She could not conceive that a person who had used those same hands to kill was using them to enjoy something as earthly as food._

 _"Mmm! This is delicious!" the red-eyed monster exclaimed. "Do not you want a bite of my sandwich, darling?"_

 _The young woman saw him with an angry expression._

 _The man shrugged and smiled to her, as if he was saying: "it is you who are going to regret your decision"._

 _"The letter", Alice required._

 _It was the turn of the red-eyed monster to frown. He swallowed, cleaned his hands with a napkin and later moved one of his hands inside his jacket, from where he took out an envelope, which he left in the table, in front of Alice. It also carried the message: "To David Craig."_

 _"Here you go", the man murmured._

 _Alice extended a hand towards the letter, but in the moment she was taking it to put it inside her handbag, a hand of brown skin grabbed her wrist._

 _"Do not read it", he said to her with seriousness._

 _The young woman saw his red eyes with a trace of fear._

 _"It is for Craig, not for you, Alice", the man continued. "I read all over your face that you have opened the first letter I gave you."_

 _The young woman could not contain her blush._

 _"I did it", she confessed with certain stubborn tone. "I wanted to see for myself that you had told the truth in the police station."_

 _"Did you do not believe my words of wanting to surrender myself to justice?" the killer said with amazement. "You must have a little amount of faith in me, my dear!"_

 _"Do I must have faith in you? In a killer?" Alice said with bewilderment, almost laughing._

 _The red-eyed monster saw her directly to her eyes while a cruel smile drew in his face. Alice frightened before him._

 _"What sets you apart of me, my dear?" he murmured._

 _"I have not killed anybody!" Alice claimed out._

 _"Alright!" the red-eyed killer sighed with weariness. "But, how can I have the trust that you are going to give my letters to Craig? How do I know that you are not going to keep them for you, or you are going to throw them?"_

 _"Because I would never do anything like that to David, even though you write to him only nonsense!"_

 _"And that must be a guarantee for me?" the man asked, raising a brow._

 _Alice frowned, feeling angry. On one hand she comprehended the logic followed by the red-eyed monster: what assurance he had that she was going to give to Craig his letters? Only the vow of her word? In spite of her she had to admit that he was in a similar situation than her. The same as she could not trust in his word that he was disposed to stop his escalation of crimes, he neither could be sure that she was going to respect her part in their agreed._

 _The man smiled._

 _"I see that you understand it, darling. What is left to us, in this moment, is to trust in each other."_

 _He raised his wrist and saw the clock he had around it._

 _"But how late it is!" he exclaimed. "I must go. It has been a pleasure to be with you, my dear!"_

 _He drank at once what left of coffee in his cup, and then he cleaned his mouth with a napkin and stood up. Surprising her, he took one of her hands and kissed it._

 _"Until next time, my dear Alice."_

 _Alice, still impressed by the kiss in her hand, saw as the man left the restaurant._

 _Before leaving the place the man had deposited some bills over the table, which the waitress who had attended them quickly picked up._

 _After this, Alice had to wait some more days to have a new interview with the red-eyed monster. Regarding the letter, she had decided to keep it inside her house, in a drawer of her personal desk which was normally locked with key. She considered that it would be a good place to leave them not only because nobody but her could have access to the missives, but because it also would help her to not have temptation for reading the letters. She would hold her curiosity at bay so she would not interfere with the treat between the killer and David, or better said between the murderer and her, as the intermediary of the detective._

 _To distract herself of any desire she could have of to read the letters she was receiving, Alice decided to undertake a project, a personal investigation, to see if she could discern something of the mystery that surrounded that fearsome man. She wanted to know him, to learn his motive to do what he had done so far; to know why, between all the human spectrum, he always chose vulnerable women to kill._

 _But as she discovered soon, break through the mystery that the man represented was much more difficult of what she had thought._

 _"Why do you want to know my name?"_

 _Her second date with him had taken place a few meters from the promenade of the city, and both of them were close of a railing which separated the earth of the sea. It was night, and a terrible cold weather had taken possession of the place. Sat down on a bench, with a notebook and a pen in her hands, Alice was waiting for an answer to her question, while the red-eyed monster was directing to her a curious look from the railing, in which he was leaned at the same time that he was smoking._

 _"Do you not have a name?" Alice said. "You must have a real name."_

 _"I have a name", the man asseverated._

 _"Krupal Randhawa?" the woman scoffed. "A false name, there is no doubt about it, as true as that "Ferdinand", responsible for Sarah Black's death, or that "William", who had been in relation with Jennifer Wilson before she died. Am I wrong?"_

 _The red-eyed monster smiled to her in a sarcastic way._

 _"You are too clever for my like", he murmured._

 _Alice smiled for the compliment._

 _"So, are you going to say to me your name?"_

 _"I am afraid I can not please your curiosity, my dear", the man said. "My real name is something I reserve only to certain special persons for me… between whom, for your misfortune, you are not…"_

 _The young woman frowned. She heard as the killer laughed._

 _"Could you tell me at least what the motive behind what you have done is?"_

 _"What are you trying to say?"_

 _"Why do you kill only women? What is the reason of it?"_

 _"Do you really want to know?"_

 _Alice nodded._

 _The red-eyed monster finished his cigarette before turning around to face her._

 _"The real reason behind my motive to do what I do it is that it irritates me the weak and stupid people", he said with the calm of someone who was talking about the weather. "My father taught to me that weakness and stupidity are despicable human attributes, and I think, as he used to judge, that humanity would be better without this class of people."_

 _Alice saw him with anger, but without being able to contain the surprised expression which appeared in her face after such words. She thought that he definitely was the demon in person._

 _"Why women?" she asked with weak voice._

 _"I really do not know. I suppose that it is by the easiness with which you women fall in my traps. I do not want you to think that the motive behind my behavior is because I do not like to fight for what I desire! On the contrary, I like the challenges. But, how can one resist when things disposed itself with so acceptance before you? All the women I have killed so far had the same behavior with me: they looked for me; they wanted to give themselves to me. I was an indispensable element in their lives. I practically did not do anything! I only had to conquer them and won their trust… They did the rest. And this is what I hate the most", the killer added. "Why you women are all like this? You are carried away by love as a leaf in the wind! You do not care of anything more than to be loved! And you do everything for love! As you, my dear Alice…"_

 _The young woman surprised when she heard her name._

 _The red-eyed monster walked near her and crouched down in front of where she was, resting his hands over her knees._

 _"You are a clever woman, Alice, but you are terribly in love. And of whom you are in love? Nothing less than of David Craig, which you know very well that he never is going to correspond to your feelings! And you are still there, stuck at him as a leech, trying to attach yourself to him and accepting the few crumbs he give to you! That feels good, Alice? Do you feel pleased by being despised? Do you not want that this pain disappear? Do you not want that someone reciprocate the energies that you have put in a love that never is going to bloom?"_

 _Before such words, Alice felt naked. She had the impression that the red-eyed monster had rummaged in the depths of her soul and had taken to the light something that hurt extremely the woman. Because yes, she loved David Craig beyond herself, but in the same way she was sure, as the man in front of her had asseverated, that her feelings for the detective would never going to be return by him, that she was keeping inside her a love that she knew would never become reality._

 _How that man had realized it with such facility? Alice always had tried to show to the world her happiest side, letting repressed in her interior the painful side of herself; but in spite of that she was seeing as in that very moment her soul was being exposed by her companion. He had read her as an open book._

 _By a short instance, she observed amazed, she comprehended what the victims of the red-eyed monster had seen in their murderer. Even though she did not want to accept it out loud, the true was that the man was owner of a special charisma, of an essence in his interior which caught souls in pain as hers and made them feel understand. If the circumstances were different, if Alice did not know who that man was, she was sure that she would have fell in his nets, if only for to feel how her pain disappear for a moment._

 _But Alice was the intelligent enough to fall in the sordid games of the killer. She rose up, putting distant with the man, and she said with a command voice, while she reached out her hand in his direction:_

 _"The letter."_

 _The killer put the missive in her hand._

 _"I am leaving", she said. "Until next time."_

 _Alice turned around and began to walk towards the city. But in the moment she was putting one of her foot on the sidewalk, a hand stopped her advance; and suddenly the woman felt the presence of the man behind her. Immediately she became nervous, and desires of running out of there attacked her, but when she felt the breath of the killer against the skin of her neck, making her to shiver and that her heart began to beat faster, she knew that she had not escape._

 _"I can help you with your pain", the red-eyed monster murmured to her ear. "I can mitigate the grief that your heart is feeling if you let me, Alice. I can show to you how well Hell feels."_

 _The words of the killer slid inside her ears, making her to shake from head to toe._

 _Suddenly, in consequence of a strong pull, the woman found herself facing the red-eyed monster._

 _Without Alice could do anything to avoid it, he pushed her close to him, putting his arms around her waist, and he lowered his lips until they were over hers._

 _At first she put everything of herself to push the man away of her. She tried to apart herself of the killer, but without obtained it. The more rebellion she put against the fact of being kiss by the murderer, the more she found herself falling in the sensation that was leaving in her his lips over hers; and before she could to anything against it, she discovered herself returning the kiss and allowing herself to be seduce by the caress._

 _One of her hands grappled his orange locks, squeezing the man's hair with ferocity. Tears began to fall for her cheeks at the same time she gave herself into the kiss._

 _But when they separated, she changed drastically her behavior. She gave to him a strong slapping, which turned around his face._

 _"Do not do that again!" she required._

 _She turned around and left the place. The red-eyed monster directed to her an evil look while her figure disappeared in the distance._

* * *

 _Once more, during the days that followed their encounter, Alice could not stop thinking about the red-eyed monster, but this time for different reasons. It was not more the curiosity of knowing if the man had spoken with the truth what was agitating her. It was something more depth, something in which her feelings took the lead role._

 _She could not forget the kiss the killer had given to her. Alice could not help the desire to move her fingers over her lips at the memory, enjoying the still fresh sensation that the contact of his mouth had left in her; and she neither could take out of her mind his words: "I can show to you how well Hell feels"._

 _Had been in a way like this that the red-eyed demon had attracted his victims toward him? Had been through this method as he had caught them in his trap and allowed himself to drag his preys to the terrain he had prepared for them? Alice imagined six faces, six women covered in blood, which had been attracted with a promise of love masked under the façade of the death._

 _During her following meetings with the red-eyed monster, Alice had tried to lead the situation with the greater seriousness possible, with the desire to not let him to glimpse the effect that his words had produced in her. But after each encounter it cost her more and more effort to contain her growing desires for the man; desires which frightened her._

 _Was she really letting herself to be tempted by him? Was she really giving to that dangerous man dominion over her soul and body?_

 _Until then she had received four letters, which Alice intuited that corresponded to each one of his murders. When it arrived the moment of the delivery of the fifth, the will power she had had to control herself in the man's presence was reaching a disturbingly low level._

 _The reunion was going to take place in an old abandoned building._

 _When she arrived to the meeting place and saw the happy look that the red-eyed monster was directing to her, she knew she was in problems. Once again, the sensation that he could read her as if she was an open book attacked her._

 _"Your letter", the red-eyed demon said when she was near her, reaching out the missive. "I am afraid that our encounters are arriving to an end."_

 _"I am glad to hear that!" she lied._

 _Certainly, it was not a lie what she had asseverated. Once the man would give to her the sixth letter, and David would come back of his vacation, Alice should not face again that demoniac man, and should not confront anymore the confused sensations that he was making her feel._

 _The killer sighed and stood up; but in the moment Alice thought that he had crossed the door and had left the building, she heard at her back:_

 _"Have you thought of what I have told you? My offer is still available, Alice. If you let me…"_

 _The young woman did not say anything, feeling as the nervousness took control of her._

 _She suddenly heard as the man walked towards her._

 _"I am quite sure you have done it", the murderer murmured at her ear when he was near her. "And that you have accepted my proposition…"_

 _"Shut up…"_

 _"You only have to say the magic works and I can make that all the pain that you are feeling disappear…"_

 _"Never…"_

 _"Why?" the man asked while leaning his head over her shoulder, at the same time as he put his hands at each side of her waist, moving them up, up, and up…_

 _"Because you are a killer!" Alice cried out, pushing herself away of him._

 _The red-eyed monster smiled._

 _"And what with that?" he said. "You are a woman and I am a man; and what our bodies do goes beyond of the labels. I only want to help you…"_

 _The man reached her once more and embraced her, trying to search for her lips, but Alice got tense._

 _He walked away of her._

 _"It looks like you do not want anything for me, so I leaving. What a shame! You must think, my dear Alice, which opportunities as the one I am giving to you do not show a second time. But if you do not want my help, I can not do anything…"_

 _He took his leave and walked towards the building's entrance. At the same time she saw him doing it, all her soul was claiming to her to make him to stop._

 _"Wait!" she screamed._

 _The red-eyed monster stopped his steps, turning just the enough to see her._

 _Against everything she had fought to stop herself from reaching that point, she took a decision. She could not fight anymore. She wanted to give herself to his promise. She did not want to continue to confront what that man made her feel._

 _She opened her arms widely at the same time tears began to fall from her eyes._

 _"I want it… I want you…"_

 _She could see with her tearful eyes as he smiled._

 _In a blink of an eye she found herself between his body and the wall, while he kissed her passionately, she returning his kissed at the same time she tangled her fingers inside his reddish hair, appreciating the heating sensation going through her at the closeness of her body of his._

 _He had promised to her that he was going to show to her how good Hell felt, and Alice appreciated the truth of his words the more she dived and dived in what he was doing to her. As the pleasure took possession of her body, she felt as Hell's gates opened in front of her._

* * *

 _From that moment her meetings with the red-eyed monster became more frequent, but this time not motivated for the delivery of the letters, but more with their desire to give oneself to the other._

 _Alice discovered marveled, but also disturbed, the easiness with which that man had introduced in her life, and how every thought that went through her mind, since the first time she had given herself to him, had something to do with him. It resulted impossible for her to apart him of her memory, and even more of her yearnings and desires._

 _And neither it was easy to her to conceive how much pleased she felt with the current situation of her life. Every time she offered her body to him, she returned to her home with the feeling of wanting more. Even though she was doing something wrong, she could not help but feel the happiness of those that keep inside them an important secret. If any of her coworkers learned that she was making love with the fearsome killer, and how much she liked it! It was resulting for her more difficult with the passing time to keep at bay her increasingly frequent smiles of satisfaction in front of her policemen fellows._

 _She could not restrain the happiness she was experiencing, fact that, on the other hand, frightened her. What if someone discovered her secret encounters with the dreadful killer?_

 _The red-eyed monster mocked of her about this one night she had been with him:_

 _"What would think that good man of Craig if he would know that his beloved Alice shares her body with the enemy?"_

 _"David does not have to know it!" Alice had asseverated, frowning._

 _"Of course, of course, darling! I was just making fun of you."_

 _But Alice had seen, while he gave this answer, which his eyes were sparkling in that way she knew very well did not augur anything good._

 _What if, she thought, the red-eyed killer himself, in a desire to blackmail her, told the truth about their meetings? Such idea made her shook from head to toe, afraid._

 _"Oh, my dear Alice, you do not have to worry about that", the killer had asseverated another night, in spite that she had not confessed her fears to him. "I am not going to tell anybody about what we do. I like very much to make you mine; besides, we still have this issue of the letters over our heads."_

 _And it was true. She still had not received the sixth letter from him; and even though she was waiting with eagerness the moment in which it would arrive, she knew down depth her that in reality she was not expecting with such enthusiasm the arrive of the next missive. If it meant that the delivery of the sixth letter would signify her last opportunity to be with the perilous killer, she really did not want to see it in her hands._

 _The red-eyed monster had become an obsession for her. She could not help thinking about him. She could not help her desires for him. He was like for her as a drug, that in spite that she knew it was killing her, she could not stop taking. After all, and against her will, she had fallen prey of his games._

 _And it that way the latest days of the year and the beginning of January passed for her. But the arrival of the sixth letter did not take too long. It happened during the first days of January. She thought, while receiving the letter, that David Craig was about to arrive from his vacation, and that soon she could give to him the missives wrote by the red-eyed monster._

 _When Alice pointed out that her deal with the assassin had arrived to an end, he said to her in a mysterious way:_

 _"Maybe yes… Maybe no… I feel like I have not said everything I know to Craig in my letters… Maybe you are going to receive more…"_

 _Alice took that answer as the nonsense of a mad man. After all, she had received six letters, and six had been the murderers committed by him._

 _But when some days after this she received another petition of him, with the usual red rose accompanied by the white paper with the signature of an eye with a vertical pupil in red ink, she understood he was not lying._

 _Alice went to the meeting place. There the red-eyed monster gave to her another letter._

 _"The seventh and the last", he said. "From this moment our agreement finishes."_

 _"So, after all, do you really have forgotten saying something to David?" Alice mocked, enchanted with the idea that a man as clever as him did mistakes._

 _"No", he answered with simplicity._

 _The young woman saw him with an astonished look._

 _"What…?" she murmured._

 _He walked towards her and embraced her waist, attracting her toward him. Alice was too astonished to bother for his closeness._

 _"As you must think, my beloved Alice, I have written six letters to Craig, six letters that correspond to the little works I have done through these months. But I still have to give to him another letter."_

 _"Is it that you have committed another murder without us, the police, do not know about it?" Alice said, frowning, while nailing her nails in his two strong forearms._

 _He smiled to him, and she did not like his smile. It was promising the hell in earth._

 _"Yes, darling", he said, talking so near her that his lips brushed hers. "Yours."_

 _And Alice did not have time to process the threat before darkness surrounded her._

* * *

 _When Alice woke up she found herself tied of hands and feet to the poles of an unknown bed. In front of her the known face of the red-eyed monster was showing to her the evident happiness of its owner through a smile plastered in his mouth. Alice read all over his face that the time of her death had arrived._

 _"Until you wake up, my dear", the man murmured._

 _Alice did various tries to loosen the strings constraining her arms and legs, but unsuccessfully._

 _"Do not worry for untie yourself", her companion said. "You are not going to leave this place alive, my precious Alice."_

 _The young woman screamed with all the strength of her lungs:_

 _"Why are you doing this to me?!"_

 _"I desire to give to Craig a good present for Christmas!" the killer said with simplicity. "You are going to be my gift for him!"_

 _"But the letters…! When he finds out them, he will trap you…! You will go to jail…!"_

 _Before her words, the red-eyed monster began suddenly to laugh with an evil laugh, which resonated through all the room; and he was shaking so much by the spasms that was attacking him that he had to put his hands on his ribcages._

 _"But how stupid are you!" he exclaimed, after he stopped his laughing. "Did you really think that I will surrender myself to justice? Me! Hahahaha! Poor and innocent Alice, who still believes that the fairy tales that she has read can become true! Those letters, my dear, were a farce! You have fallen in my trap so easily! And, if I think about it, how you were not going do it with the bait I used? David Craig himself! But, darling, admit that this is funny! If you knew how much I like to kill, you would have not believed in my story! Oh, how funny! How much this funs me!"_

 _The red-eyed monster laughed again._

 _Alice felt at once all the horrifying of her reality. She had fallen in the feints of that man as it had done six women before her! And what was the worst of all, the red-eyed monster was using her as a bait to make fall David Craig in his vile games. Oh, Alice was not going to allow it! But how was she going to impede the destiny that pounce over her with horrible certainty?_

 _She tried once more to loosen her ties, but when she was thinking that she could not do anything to free herself, one of her arms fell suddenly some centimeters. She surprised immediately when she felt the sudden freedom. The strings had given up under her efforts to untie it!_

 _Under a new attack, she realized the truth of her discover. The ropes were loosened up; and to feel the gratifying sensation that she could free herself had made to return to her heart the hope of living._

 _Craig many times had expressed his firmly belief that even the more clever of the burglars or killers did a mistake sometime during their career. The red-eyed killer, that same man who considered himself untouchable, an almighty being, had committed the clumsiness of believing that she was firmly tied to the bed in which he had put her._

 _"Let's see, let's see", the murderer was murmuring. "How I am going to kill you? What will I like to do to you: shoot to you a bullet to your head or cut your throat? Must I kill you quickly or slowly? Decisions! Decisions!"_

 _While the red-eyed demon was considering the way he was going to kill her, Alice pushed down her arms until they were untied. Since he was showing to her his back while murmuring about his dilemma, she took her opportunity to remove the strings around her ankles. Then, silently, she left the bed. At her side was a nightstand, filled with various types of weapons, from large guns to little needles full with a yellowish liquid. She took a gun and wait for her opportunity to revenge._

 _And she did not have to wait a long time. When the red-eyed monster turned around and saw that she was free, Alice could not contain her happiness. What a confusion look he had! She tried to not laugh while she pointed the gun in her hands toward him. She did not let him to process the situation, pressing the trigger seconds after that he had seen her._

 _The bullet travelled direct to his head. Alice saw as he moved backward once the projectile found its way inside his brain and later as he fell to the floor, fatally wounded._

 _For some minutes she could not move, totally surprise of what she had done. She could not believe that she had killed the red-eyed monster, the man who had become the nightmare of the society. The gun in her hand stayed still pointing to where his figure had been._

 _Suddenly she dropped the gun to the floor and ran towards the man. She sat down at his side and moved one of her hands over his face, around his neck, trying to feel if any pulse of life still existed in his body. He was definitely dead. She saw his glazed red eyes, which had remained open after his death. The red-eyed monster had ceased to exit._

 _She suddenly began to cry. Tears were falling through her cheeks with the intensity of a heavy rain. She was not only crying because she at last felt liberate, but by everything she had experienced through that man, who had become her lover in the same way in which he almost had been her killer._

 _She bended over his body and embraced it, wetting with her tears the cold brown skin of his neck._

 _She stayed like that for a while until she thought she had had enough. She cleaned her face with her hands and stood up, leaving the place without seeing behind._

* * *

 _During the next days Alice lived with the fear that what she had lived had only been a product of her imagination. Sometimes she woke up in the middle of the night covered in sweat, having terrified the sensation of being still trapped in that horrible bed in which the red-eyed monster had tied her; or other times, in which she believed she had seen in the face of this or that other man the features of the fearsome killer, sighing with relief after discovering that everything had been a fright._

 _Even though she had seen with her own eyes how the man had died, could she really be sure that she had finished with that demoniac being? Even though she had felt with her own hands the lack of pulse in the veins of his neck, could she really accept that the dreadful killer had left the world once and for all?_

 _In spite of what had happened, Alice continued stubborn in her desire of not letting anyone to know about her adventure with the red-eyed monster, and lot less to confess that she had killed him. She thought, in a maybe too innocent way, that soon one day his corpse was going to be found by the police without her having to tell anything about the experiences she had shared with the dangerous man, and that the society, as she had done, was going to close forever the chapter of the red-eyed demon._

 _And besides, she did not have any proof with which demonstrate her story. As she had discovered the day after of her almost death, this damn man had given to her six envelopes with nothing in them. Every one of his letters was nothing more than a pile of empty white papers, in which nothing was written. The red-eyed monster had never wanted to surrender himself to justice. He had never regretted what he had done. His real motive had always been to use her as bait to revenge of everything Craig had done against him._

 _And she had to take into consideration that nobody could give a testimony of having seen her with the killer. The only one who had saw them together had been the waitress of the restaurant in which had took place their first date; but, as she had ascertained, she did not remember anything of their presence in the cafeteria. Besides her, nobody had seen them. The red-eyed monster had been the enough clever to make her to see him in places which few people visited._

 _Thus the woman continued with her life as if nothing had happened. She continued smiling as she used to do, without betraying her true feelings, and she did not stop serving coffee in the police department. Life had continued for her with normality._

 _Some days after the assassination attempt she had suffered, she was walking through a boulevard in her way to home, with a paper bag filled with food between her arms. The day was almost finishing, and the sky was projecting a bluish light over everything that reached her sight, giving to every object and person it touched a beautiful aspect. Few people were in there; some ones were sat in some benches facing the declining sun._

 _Alice was about to cross to the other side of the street, to take the path towards the subway, when a man seated in one of the benches attracted her attention. He was a young man, at least of thirty years old, and he was facing the sky, while smoking a cigarette._

 _When she saw him, she stopped her tracks, shaking and opening her mouth in an expression of amazement. It was him! It was him! She had lived together with the red-eyed monster the enough to recognize his face; and she did not doubt that the man in front of her was the same one she had seen dead days before. Why…? How…? Had she not killed him?_

 _She decided that her best option was to run. But in the moment she was moving her feet, two pair of strong arms surrounded her without mercy, making impossible for her any movement._

 _"You are coming with us, little doll", a man said to her ear._

 _Alice frightened, and did everything she could to free herself._

 _But against her the people who were imprisoning her pushed her inside a car. The man who had talked to her stayed out of the vehicle while the other one entered with Alice in the passenger seat, putting around her his strong arms to prohibit her any movement._

 _And in the moment she was thinking that everything bad that could happen to her had occurred already, the red-eyed monster himself walked towards the vehicle. She saw him impressed, reading in his eyes the promise of death that he had prepared for her._

 _"Bring her to the place that we have already talked", she heard him saying to the man who was out of the vehicle._

 _The man next to him nodded and later he climbed inside the car._

 _The red-eyed monster said to him before he turned on the automobile:_

 _"Have care with her. She is a clever girl."_

 _And he winked in her direction._

 _Then the man who was in front of the steering wheel turned on the engine while the one who was next to her put her head inside a black velvet bag in spite of her efforts of free herself. After that this happened, she felt as the car moved, driving her to any place to where the red-eyed demon had planned to kill her._

 _When the bag was removed from her head, Alice found herself in a place in which she had never been. The room in where she was seemed a personal medical laboratory. Beside her, her two kidnappers were watching her._

 _Few minutes later made his appearance in the room the red-eyed monster. His eyes were sparkling with evident happiness._

 _"Until we meet again, my dear Alice", he said, smiling to her. "I hope you have enjoyed your freedom because you are not going to leave this place alive. If you go out of here, it will be dead."_

 _Alice shivered from head to toe before the threat._

 _"You two, gentlemen, have done a terrific job. I think you have earned your money deservedly."_

 _"You are very generous, boss", one of the man said, bowing respectfully towards the killer._

 _The red-eyed monster turned around and left the room. But when he returned it was not money what he had in his hand, but a gun, and with two accurate shoots he sent to the other world his two accomplices. Alice gave a dread shrieked while she saw with how easiness the man in front of her had killed the other two._

 _"Much better", he murmured, lowering the gun. "Without witnesses everything is perfect. Now, I must…"_

 _He took by the armpits the two bodies, one at a time, and dragged them to a place inside the laboratory that Alice could not see._

 _When he returned to her side, after finishing his job, he said to her:_

 _"Have I not said to you how much I hate the stupid people, my dear Alice? What you did, that of shooting me, was an absolute stupidity..."_

 _Suddenly he sat down next to her and raised one of his hands towards her hair, playing with her brown hair strands._

 _"Truly, a complete stupidity."_

 _"How…? How…?" Alice murmured, feeling as tears began to flow from her eyes._

 _"How I am alive after you shot me?" the red-eyed monster completed her question, smiling. "It is because I am the death itself, my dear, and neither you nor anyone can kill me. I am technically immortal!"_

 _He saved the distances between him and her._

 _"You, on the other hand, are not…"_

 _Suddenly the hand that was playing with her hair trapped her neck without mercy, and in a swift movement he made move her head until it crashed against the wall behind her. She lost the consciousness at consequence of the strong hit against her skull._

 _When she opened her eyes again she found herself trapped in a small and cold room, totally naked. The chilly weather inside the room was attacking her skin as if little knives cut her._

 _Alice moved her hands up and put them around her head, while she began to cry disconsolately. Only one thought was occupying her mind: David Craig._

* * *

The red-eyed monster observed with delight the work he had done while he took off the latex gloves with which he had worked. Under him, resting in the stretcher of his laboratory, laid Alice Brown, looking, for him, more gorgeous than never. And how I could not be possible with the beautiful attire with which he had dressed her, as if she was the Alice of _Alice in Wonderland_?

Oh, how beautiful gift he had prepared for David Craig! When he would see how beautiful his little Alice was as the lovely doll she was representing…!

The red-eyed monster breathed with joy, observing how pretty the future appeared before him. Definitely, his seventh work was the most beautiful of all.

* * *

And here is the chapter 10. If you like it please leave me a review or follow to story, I will thanked it very much. I want to thanks the feedback I have received with the story. Thank you for your support. Until next time!


	11. Chapter XI

**The red-eyed monster**

 _A series of murders against young and innocent's women put in check the police and the society. Without clues or any links to lead the police to the whereabouts of this cruel monster, can Hinata Hyuga be saved in time before her name join the list of the victims of the so call red-eyed demon?_

 **Disclaimer:** Naruto and its characters don't belong to me, but Masashi Kishimoto.

Sorry for my english, it's the first time I write in english. I beg your pardon for my grammar errors.

* * *

Once again I want to apologize for the delay of the chapter. It have been almost four months since the last time I have published a chapter, but I have never stopped in my purpose of publishing the next chapter as much as it would allow it my time and imagination.

I don't know if someone have took the time to see my user info, but I live in a small country of South America named Venezuela. Since April my country have been experiencing tense moments, in which the venezuelan people have been forced to live under the pressure of dictatorial and infamous goberment, who only purpose is to stay in the power at all cost, without caring of the consequences of their actions for the country. Every day people die, people of all ages, mostly young men and women, kill by the police and the national guard as if they were thieves or - as the goberment call us - terrorist when they were only fighting for their future. I have no doubts that you can understand why it have been so difficult for me to concentrate in writing a fictional story when I am living in the same expression of the surrealism. I do not know if you can imagine living in a place where outside your building, in the same streets for which you walk every day, "agents of law" shoot to anyone who claim for its freedom and for the freedom of its country, murdered by the people who should protect them instead of pointing to their heads with a gun.

Thanks for reading this testament. I only want to say to my country and to the people living here: fuerza y fe, Venezuela, que de esta mierda salimos. Thank you for your time.

* * *

The last part of the chapter can be a little OCC, it was not my intention, but I really wanted to write that fight! I hope you don't mind.

* * *

 **Chapter XI**

Winter had never been Craig's favorite season, but that morning of early January, standing in front of the police station where he worked, the detective breathed the chill air with happiness.

His vacations had reached its end and Craig was expecting with eagerness to go back to work in the case which had haunted his nightmares for almost eight months, avid to stop once and for all the trail of destruction the red-eyed monster had been leaving behind him.

However he was not only happy in front of the perspective to continue to work, and in this way put all of himself to stop the nightmare represented by the red-eyed killer, but also because he was going to see Alice again. During his time of absent he had not stop of thinking of his little sister, wondering how had been the Christmas for her, and about the promise he had made to her of giving to her a Christmas present after his return to the city. Craig adjusted his hold under the large and thin box under his arm, in which lay the beautiful dress he had picked for Alice as a gift.

After some minutes of standing in front of the doors of the commissariat, dreaming with a smile in the face about what he supposed was waiting for him at the other side, Craig stepped inside the police station. It did not pass nor a minute when everything the detective was waiting for went back to the terrain of his imagination. In the very moment he had put his feet inside the building, he felt as the happiness he was feeling was being cut off with the easiness with which a hot knife cut through a butter bar. The detective was not a believer of the supernatural sciences, but once inside the police station the sensation that something bad was happening inside those walls went through his body. Everything was so calm, so silent, _so lugubrious,_ as if every type of life that had could exist inside the commissariat had completely disappear.

He walked to his office, trying to find someone, a receptionist, a fellow policeman, but everything was extremely quiet, as if something had forced every people who worked in the police station to leave their job positions. In that moment he could not figure out was going on, what was waiting for him. In that moment he could not know that Destiny had darted over him with the evilness of a monster.

He arrived to his office feeling even more confused. Even there, in the department of the detectives, his coworkers were absent. Winter generally meant a lot of work for the detectives. The season was always followed by thefts and deaths, mostly of people which, feeling alone during Christmas, end their life by committing suicide; but it did not justify, in spite of how many unsolved cases could be waiting to be attended, such an absent. _Where was everyone?_ Craig, feeling anxious to understand what was happening in there, left his belongings in the office, all them except the gifts for Alice, and went out of the place to search through the building.

It did not take him much time to find someone. The encounter made him felt relieved. He was returning to the police station's reception when he found one of the secretaries which worked there. When she saw him all her face gained a sickly white color, and Craig, at the same time that he was asking himself what the hell was happening there, feared that the woman would faint.

"Detective!" she exclaimed after Craig offered to her a hand to stabilize herself. "You are here!"

"Yes", the detective answered, frowning. "I have just returned for my vacations. Tell me, what is going here? Where is everyone?"

Once again the face of the woman turned sickly white. The detective was positive that this time she was going to faint, by the woman recovered her composure, thing that he mentally thanked.

Even though she had recovered, when she answered to his questions her voice was shaking, and the detective, in spite of him, felt a little angry by the waste of time she was entailing to him.

"Talk clear, woman!" he exclaimed. "Where is the chief inspector? Have you see Alice Brown?"

Suddenly the woman shrunk and tears began to escape from her eyes.

"Go to the morgue…" the woman said in low voice before going out of there with accelerate pace, still crying.

The detective saw her surprised, furrowing his brows. What could be waiting for him in the morgue? Who had died now?

Deciding that if he wanted information he must have to search for the answers he directed his steps towards the morgue, the place of the police station where the corpses of those who had been subjected to be victims of a killer were kept, and where the forensic team did their work.

To his surprise, he found the chief inspector outside the morgue. Craig saluted him with the courtesy an employee must have in front of his boss, but instead of corresponding to his greeting, the man saw him with an expression of profound sadness.

"You have returned from you vacations, Craig" the man in front of him pointed out while facing to the heavy metal doors which divided the place of the morgue. "What coincide that you are here, here in this very moment…"

Craig's astonish expression got even bigger. What the chief inspector meant with those enigmatic words?

The next question of the man took him out of his musings:

"Did you enjoy your vacations?"

"I enjoyed spending time with my family. You have been right when you forced me to take a rest, I was really needing to take it easy for some time. But now I am here, eager to go back to work. I came here with big expectations to make some progress in my case, but when I have arrived it surprised me to see that the police station it is almost empty. Something have happening during my absent?"

Craig heard the chief inspector sighing.

"Our "favorite assassin" has left to us a very special Christmas gift…"

This time was the opportunity of the detective to acquire a pale tone of skin.

"Has the red-eyed monster killed again?"

The chief inspector nodded.

"The forensic team is doing the autopsy to corpse right now."

"Who is the victim?"

"Do you really want to know?"

The chief inspector saw Craig with an enigmatic look, which made the detective to frown. What was the meaning of his last question?

After some minutes of tense silence the chief inspector sighed again.

"I think the better is that you see it with your own eyes before anyone could tell you about what have happened. I think you have the right to know… especially considering that the victim is someone very important to you…"

The chief inspector put the five fingers of his right hand over one of the heavy doors leading to the morgue and pushed it, opening it.

"I am sorry for what you are going to find inside", the man said.

Craig saw him astonished. He began to move forward and entered in the morgue.

The first he saw was a group of five forensic scientists, all of them wearing white clothes and mask over their mouths, two of them occupied in reading the results that one of the computers had thrown, other one with a camera in hands, taking pictures of any wound that could lead the experts to discern the cause of death, and the other two studying the corpse laid on the stretcher. None of them paid attention of the detective, concentrated in what they were doing.

It was not until the one who was taking the pictures noticed his presence that all of them saw the detective. Then, in an almost studied move, the two which were working on the corpse moved aside, letting Craig to see the body over the stretcher. When his eyes fell on the woman in front of him, the world stopped for him.

Alice, his darling little sister, the one who had cheered up many of his days with her joviality and happiness, the young woman which Craig cherished so much, was there, _dead_ … The box that contained the gift he had bought for her fell to the floor, and a beautiful flowery dress broke through its lids, lying in the floor as an old cloth nobody wants.

Suddenly the detective began to deny with his head, shaking it furiously. No, no, it could not be happening! What he was seeing must be a nightmare!… But, if that was a nightmare, he thought, it felt quite real… The Alice that was there, lying in that stretcher, looked completely real, and his tact proved it as genuine when he touched with his fingers the cold skin of the corpse. His Alice, his beloved Alice, was dead.

Tears began to flow from his eyes copiously at the same time he saw the damage the red-eyed monster had inflicted to her body. The four limbs were cut of the body, the arms separated from the shoulders and the legs cut above the knees. Craig put his arms around the chest, the only part of Alice's body which had not been touch, and rested his face over Alice's forehead, crying with all the force of his lungs.

He stayed in this way he did not know how long, but after some minutes the chief inspector entered in the morgue to move him afar from the stretcher to allow the forensic scientists to continue with their work.

The chief inspector took him out of there, letting him to lean on his shoulder, and he forced him to walk with him to his office, where someone served cold water and coffee to the detective to help him to confront the bad impression. One of the wide windows of the office was opened, and the chill wind of winter passing through it gave him the enough cold blood to study the matter from a different perspective.

"I want to know what happened", he said to the chief inspector. " _Everything_ that have happened."

The chief inspector sighed and, leaning against his desk, he crossed his arms over his chest and said:

"It happened this same morning. The mail had just arrived, and William and Jenkins were checking them with the X-ray machine, as the regulations stipulates, when they laid their eyes on a big wooden box. After examining it with the machine, they considered the package was containing something strange, so they reported it. As I was in charge in that moment, I asked to them to move the box inside. Jones and his team of experts in explosives came to clear the area and to make the preparations in case the package hid a bomb; but when the casket was opened nothing could have prepared us for what was inside. Alice was inside the coffin, dead."

In front of the revelation, Craig felt as his throat closed; and he had to muster his forces to hold at bay the tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

While Craig was assimilating the horrible news, the chief inspector walked to his desk and minutes later came closer to him with a bunch of photographs in hand. Craig observed with a hurt look the confirmation of what his boss had told him. The photos showed Alice, clearly dead, lying over a bed of red rose petals and wearing the same dress that certain popular character of the literary and cinematographic world wore, with a light blue gown and a white apron around her waist, and matching the outfit white nylon socks, black shoes and a blue hairband over her brown hair. A dreadful pain attacked Craig's body at the same time his eyes registered the images in front of him, feeling hurt by the torture that Alice had been submitted.

"What is more… horrible – if that word can be used in this phrase – of all this it is… the box was for you, as if the killer had wanted that you would open it and be the first person to saw Alice…"

" _What are you saying?!"_

The detective had risen from his seat by the revelation.

The chief inspector nodded.

"A tag was hanging from one of the box's lids; and inside the coffin was this letter, with your name in it…"

"My cherish detective", the letter said, "I took the modesty of to write to you with the only objective of wishing to you a Merry Christmas. I hope you will appreciate the gift I have made for you. I put all my heart in it so you can enjoy it; and I am positive that in spite that little Alice can not say it with her own voice, she has been more than pleased to help me as a model for my play. With all my sincere desires,"

And at the end of the letter the well-known signature of an eye with a vertical pupil, drawn with red ink.

Craig crumpled the sheet until it was condense in a small ball of paper.

Throughout his long career the detective had forced himself to maintain the subjectivity and to not get involve with any case or any victim to not put in danger his investigation by dirtying his search with his personal thoughts and opinions. But in this case he could not. It was to demand him too much to keep at bay the pain he was feeling for the sake of his investigation. Alice had always been, since the day he had met her, a much necessary person in his life, always there to make him smile or to see what was in front of him with optimism, and the red-eyed monster had taken her apart from him! He could not hold his emotions when someone as importance as Alice for him had been killed by that despicable man!

It was a personal attack. Alice was dead _for him_. The red-eyed monster had picked her as his victim _for him_. Craig swore, with his knuckles white and hatred-poisoned look, that he was going to get his revenge.

* * *

One of the characteristics that identified Naruto more was his everlasting good humor and his strength to face the adversities, as if the obstacles in his life were not more than little trifles. Those who knew and loved him tended to believe that it was an impossibility, if not something that only could be allowed in the terrain of the imagination, to see him sad, dejected, as if sadness could not affect the blond.

But to Naruto the sadness was not an abstract concept. Many times throughout his life he had felt the heavy arms of the agony over him, hugging him with the same force as a boa constrictor press its body around its victim. He had fought harsh and ruthless battles against Life; but definitely no one of them could be compared no even in the slightest aspect with the one he was facing since that night Hinata had broken his heart.

How long a heart could be broken before it could begin to heal? How long a person could revive in its mind the pain of being rejected for the one it loved? Naruto did not know it, but he could tell that he had been fighting with the feeling of agony for at least three weeks and he did not feel any better.

He never before had faced a love deception as the one he had lived at the Hyuga's hand, not only because until then his love life had gone without any setback (if it did not count Vanessa, his ex-girlfriend), but also because he had never opened his heart in the same manner as he had done it for Hinata for the other women in his life. Maybe he had recently realized the feelings he had for her, feelings that could not long be classified as friendship, but that did not mean that what he felt for Hinata was not strong. The sentiments he professed for Hinata were like a tree that, in spite of been sown not long ago, had thrown deep roots in his heart and had grown so high as to reach the sky; and Hinata's rejection had been as an ax blow which had left the tree wobbly and fragile.

During those three weeks the blond had tried to comprehend what could be have been going on inside Hinata's mind that night to reject his love. Before knowing the tragic end which had received his efforts to conquer her heart, Naruto had firmly believed that the presence of Krupal Randhawa in the young woman's life was something dangerous. Even he could affirm that the man controlled her taking advantage of her naivety, and that he had put in her head his ideas. So, could it not be possible that Randhawa was the culprit of Hinata's decision after successfully implanted in her mind the idea that she did not love anyone but him and these feelings she supposedly felt for him were stronger that the ones she felt for the Uzumaki?

But, what if it was not the reason? What if Hinata had rejected him because she did not love him anymore, tired of waiting for him to return the feelings she had for him, and had decided to put her heart in the hands of another man?

It was not like Naruto did not understand that this could be the possible reason; what was more, if this was the real cause for why Hinata had rejected him it was his entire fault. It had been him who had been blind to the feelings she professed for him! And if Hinata had lost the patience, deciding to stop having the hope that someday he was going to love her in the same way she loved him, it was his fault! Naruto did not have the right to demand her answers if this one was the reason she did not want to accept his love. If Hinata had decided to love someone else because of this he must to move aside and accept the consequences of his stupidity – at least meanwhile she had not chosen Randhawa as her lover.

But there was another possibility. It could be possible that Hinata knew what she was doing… There could still be a small chance that Hinata was conscious of her actions, that she had really rejected him because she loved another man, a man with the name of Krupal Randhawa… _Have you ever felt that your whole world is based on a single decision, and that when you make it all you know could collapse?_ , she had asked him the midnight of Christmas Eve, during their stay in the Uchiha mansion. What if what she was wanting to say with that question was that she was sure of her feelings for Krupal and was afraid of the reaction his friends and family would going to have when they knew she want to be with him?

Naruto did not know what to think.

On the other hand, during the days that had followed that fateful night Naruto had been inactive, on one side quite hurt to think of something that could help him to put an end to the situation he was living, and on the other side very confused, without knowing what path he could follow now. Since then he had not done nor the slightest effort to talk again with Hinata, rejecting the idea of calling her or sending a message to her phone; and even though his mother had promoted him to call her to see if at least – who knows? – the two could put aside their differences for the benefit of the long friendship that had existed between both, Naruto had not found inside him the strength to pick up the phone and call her, afraid of what could happen if he saw her again. The Uzumaki was very angry with the situation he was living, an anger fed by her memory, but, in spite of all that had happened, he did not want to hurt her by saying to her something in the rage of the moment.

This force separation, on the other hand, had helped him to regain control of his emotions slowly, but steady. The reject had shown the worst of his personality, dragging him to a state of mind in which the apathy and the bitterness had become his best friends. With the passing of the days he had calmed at least a little, the enough to put a hold to his well-known rage; what was quite a lot if it was took in consideration that days before the only thing he wanted to do was grabbed Hinata's shoulders and shouted directly to her face his pain with hurtful words.

And that change of behavior was mostly thanks to the support of his friends and family. Neither Jiraiya nor his mother had left him alone during those dark hours for him, trying to show to him, in spite that in that moment he was blinded to their advices, that he still had many opportunities to resolve her differences with the Hyuga and to make her understand that he really loved her; and his friends had visited him frequently.

It was with Sakura with whom he shared most of his pain. Being the go-between of Naruto and Hinata she understood him better than anyone; and, the same as him, she felt hurt by the result with which the situation had ended.

"I really hope that she was not with _him_ ", Sakura had said to him one day there were talking about this topic.

"You know? The fact that he had attended her that night does not mean she has been with him all this time", Naruto had said, more to give himself hope that for pointing out a fact.

"I hope so."

And Naruto hoped so too. He wanted to believe that between all the possibilities he had thought the one that prevailed among of them were this last one. Maybe she had never been with him all this time… Maybe she had rejected his love because she was afraid that he was lying to her and not because Randhawa had brainwashed her…

But when he returned to college all his hopes went to trash. He had arrived some hours ago to the university when he saw them, Hinata and Krupal, together. Maybe they did not share a kiss in front of him, maybe they did not dedicate to the other cheesy words, but the way they saw the other, the way they held their hands spoke for themselves. Hinata was in love with Krupal and that was something not even him could negate.

If in that moment he had the slightest hope that he could resolved his problem with Hinata, it disappeared in front of that spectacle.

Maybe was for all the pain he had experienced since that fateful night of early January, maybe was the fact that he had fought with all he had at his disposition to separate the two and to make that Hinata saw that she must not be with Krupal, not only because he loved her, but also because he was a dangerous man from who she should be afar, but after receiving at last the confirmation that they were together all the rage he had manage to control began to bubble inside him with the force of a volcano about to erupt. It was so much the anger he was feeling that all his senses became overwhelm by it, making to him impossible to think reasonably.

From that moment his university life became a heavy burden to him. Unable to apart his mind off the anger he was feeling it was becoming to him quite difficult to concentrate in anything. Their friends saw him worried, without been able to do something to help him with his situation. Even Sakura and Sasuke, his best friends, were hand-tied. Naruto could not think in anything more than in the rage he was feeling and in the image of Hinata and Krupal sharing their love for the other.

If Life put he in front of Hinata or Krupal he did not know what he could be capable of, but it would not end well.

For his fortune after a week of classes he had not encounter neither of the two. In spite of his anger, Naruto did not want to see no one of them, and he was very thanks that nor Hinata nor Randhawa had appeared in front of him or were in the same place where he was.

But his luck did not last long. One day, while he was returning from class, he was walking towards his dormitory when he found Hinata standing in front of him, at short distance of where he was, petrified where she was and looking him with a frightened expression.

Naruto could not believe his luck. Really?, he asked to himself while observing Hinata, or more properly while trying to not see her.

He took a moment to study his options. He could run out from there at the price of being seen as a coward, and even though he did not have any problem with that, something inside him forced him to think of the small amount of reputation he had left. Besides, he did not want to make any detour to reach his destiny. If he must pass near Hinata to reach his residence, even in spite he was sure he was going to regret it, he would do it.

He was the first to begin to walk. Meanwhile he moved towards Hinata he forced his mind to concentrate in anything but the approaching figure of the woman. He counted his steps, _one… two… three…_ , and put his efforts in remembering the phases of the breathing, _breathe… exhale…_ But when he was close to Hinata all his concentration disappeared. The fragrance of her floral perfume reached his nose, making him to remember how much he loved her. He tried to not pay attention of all the things around him, but it became an impossible task for him.

Suddenly he found himself saying:

"I have heard that things have worked for you and Krupal, is not it?"

He turned around to face her, and Hinata's pearl eyes met his. She looked like she was going to cry anytime; unlike him, who was seeing the woman with a harsh look, the blue of his eyes looking like cold steel.

"Naruto, I…" she began to murmur.

"No! No! Do not say anything. Do not try to justify you. The only thing which surprises me of all this is that you have changed me very quickly."

"Have I changed you?"

"Oh, Hinata, you can be so timid!"

The Uzumaki laughed with a cold laugh while Hinata's face acquired a red tone.

"Do not be stupid, you know very well of what I talking about! I used to think that you love me, and now you are with this Krupal guy some days after I confessed my love to you. How do you think this make me feel?"

Hinata blushed.

"In this very moment I care very little of what you or anyone can think of my relation with Krupal", she said, clenching her fists.

"Is that so?" Naruto mocked.

"Yes! I love him, and you and everyone else must accept my decision."

"And what if I do not want to accept your decision?"

"Do not make this more difficult to me, Naruto!"

"Am I making things difficult for you, Hinata?"

While they were talking, without realizing it, Naruto had leaned over Hinata and his face was at a short distance of hers. He was much taller than her, which made him he to look menacing.

"Do you know what, Hinata?" he said with bitterness. "It is your life the one you are putting at risk. Sakura has tried to show to you that this man is a peril for you, and I think the same as her, but you seem like you do not want to listen. I know I have made the mistake of not noticing the love you felt for me sooner, but I tried to amend things. I opened my heart to you and you decided to break it! Because yes, I am in pain! And my pain is so big I want that you can feel the same sensation I am feeling! Do you want to continue through this path? Go! Jump to the adventure! But when you return with your heart break and tears in your eyes looking for me, I am going to be very pleased to say _I told you so_."

He directed towards her another harsh look before turning around and continued walking. But he did not have walked too far when he heard:

"So, this is the way in which the great Naruto Uzumaki keeps his promises!"

Naruto turned towards Hinata, seeing her with hate in the eyes.

"Have you forgotten the promise you made to me that you will go to stay at my side no matter what?!" Hinata shouted.

"I am not going to be there with you seeing how you waste your time with Krupal Randhawa!"

"You do not know him… He is a good man…"

"Is that so? Do you know that this man controls you as if you are his puppet, Hinata?!"

"It is mine decision…!"

"A stupid decision made by a person who does not have the strength to stand in her two feet!"

 _Slap!_

The sound of a slap resounded through the college's buildings. Hinata, standing next to Naruto, had turned his face by the strong slap she had given him after his hurtful words.

"How you dare…" she murmured with her voice fill with pain.

The blond directed to her an angrily look while moving his hand over the cheek slapped by Hinata. It was the first time the Hyuga had raised a hand against him.

"Why are you so cruel…?" she said, beginning to cry.

Rivers of tears began to flow from her eyes, and even though Naruto was very angry with her, when he saw her crying an urgent necessity to hug her, to ask for her forgiveness and to say that everything was going to be okay grew inside him.

But he did not have time to do anything. The figure of a woman running towards them appeared at his eyesight.

This woman was crying out:

"Hinata! Hinata!"

Hinata cleaned the tears over her face and turned around to meet her.

The woman said, her voice affected by the tiredness of the run:

"Professor Krupal… The police are arresting him!"

Naruto saw as an expression of bewilderment took possession of Hinata's face.

He said in low voice, just the enough high so that Hinata was the only one who could hear him:

"It looks like your friend has problems with the law. What a shame… for you, obviously."

Hinata directed to him a cold look before following her friend to where the police was supposedly arresting Krupal Randhawa.

Naruto exhaled, reviewing in his mind the things he had said to Hinata. Everything that he had feared of doing had happened in just matter of minutes.

"I am such an idiot", he murmured to himself before following the path the women had taken.

* * *

Thanks for reading. As always, if you like the chapter leave a review, follow the story, s _end me as much PM you want remembering me to publish_ , and stay tune because chapter twelve is coming next and it going to be very interesting.


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